‘Buy Global Make in India’ is a category of procurement process provided in the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 under Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to smoothen the acquisition of foreign weapon systems and their production within the country under the ‘Make in India’ in the defence programme.

Along with the indigenous LCA Tejas and the 5th Generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft project, the 114 MRFA project would also be required by the IAF to maintain an edge over both the Northern and Western adversaries.

Three American aircraft including the F-18, F-15 and F-21 (modified version of the F-16), Russian Mig-35 and Su-35 along with the French Rafale, Swedish Saab Gripen and the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft are expected to participate in the programme.

The Indian Air Force had also sought the views of these companies on the acquisition procedure that they would like to opt for in the programme and most of them have shown a preference for the Buy Global Make in India route only, they said.

The sources said that the force has also sought directions from the government on the project and when it can move the project for clearance from the Defence Ministry for further action.

Sources said the two squadrons of the Rafale combat aircraft were fully functional with 35 aircraft which have already arrived from France and only one plane is left for delivery.

Sources said the IAF would certainly require a capability that is being provided by Rafale and more planes would be required as the two squadrons had only met the emergency requirements of the force.

The sources said that the two Rafale squadrons played a major role in containing the situation after the Chinese started aggression in the Northern sector in Ladakh and were operationalised within few weeks of their arrival and induction into the IAF.

The sources said the 83 LCA Mark 1A would help the IAF replace the MiG-series planes as the MiG-23 and the miG-27 have already been phased out and the MiG-21s are also on the verge of being phased out.

The 5th generation AMCA is expected to be rolled out soon by the Defence Research and Development Organisation but its induction and trials are expected to take at least five to seven years from now.

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Towards this end to promote self-reliance, the ministry of defence has scrapped proposed foreign deals close to Rs 60,000 crore worth of ‘Buy-Global’ cases in the last four to five months, additional secretary (defence production) Sanjay Jaju said at a seminar organised by industry chamber PHDCCI. India is saddled with the strategically-vulnerable position of being the world’s largest arms importer. As long as foreign OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are in India, and as long as they are designing and manufacturing within the country, the Indian government is completely equitable, said Jaju.

“I have friends from global OEMs like Lockheed Martin sitting right here. It is not a commentary on foreign OEMs because we are ownership agnostic now… India does not differentiate between foreign OEMs and L&Ts (domestic companies) of the world. For us, all of you are equal,” Jaju said.

“All our policies are designed in a manner in which all of you get equal opportunities. But one point that is now coming is that going forward, possibly we will not be importing anything. One can say that at the outset,” he said. “A little bit of a difficult situation for the Lockheeds (foreign OEMs) of the world but I think you can substitute it with a string of projects… To design and develop the systems within our country,” he added.

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During the short meeting, held ‘virtually,’ as the defence minister was down with Covid, the issue of procurement under Buy (Global) category came up for discussion during the DAC meeting. It was decided to firmly push indigenisation or as the government said, Atmanirbharata. The Army’s plan to buy Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missiles (QR SAM) has been turned from a Buy Global to a Buy Indian order. This means that only Indian firms will be able to supply the three regiments of QR SAMs to the Army’s air-defence system.

A similar decision has been taken for the Articulated All Terrain Vehicles which can be used in high-altitude areas. All 18 of them will be purchased from Indian vendors. This was initially a Buy Global case. The decision about light machine guns for the Army followed a similar pattern. This will also be Buy and Make Indian.

Under the Buy (Global) category, procurement is done directly from the foreign Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). The decision taken will not impact deals already inked under the Buy (Global) route, those being pursued under the government-to-government route and the Foreign Military sales (FMS) route with the US.

Foreign OEMs are now welcome to tie up with Indian firms or set up their own factories to not only supply the Indian military but also for other countries.

The defence services were earlier asked to prepare a list of procurement plans from abroad that could be replaced by indigenous items. Accordingly, each service — Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard — had come forward with a list of such items.

The items in Question

One mega deal in this list was the procurement of 14 twin-engine helicopters, for which French firm Airbus was the prime contender. A decision has been taken to shelve this project in favour of the naval utility helicopter (NUH) of the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). However, it was not immediately clear what happened to the $3 billion project of the Navy to procure 111 new helicopters of the same class (that is, NUHs).

The Army will now go in for indigenous ATVs that will come handy in both the desert and mountains.

A project to acquire short range missiles from abroad has also been shelved in favour of the Make in India route.

Push for Make in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh have been emphasising on indigenous defence products. These issues came up for discussion multiple times and the forces were also amenable to this, since alternate items were already available domestically and foreign companies were willing to set up facilities in the country.

Singh, in his talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, made it clear that the way forward was Make in India. Similarly, during his meeting with French Defence Minister Florence Parly, Singh had called on French firms to “either collaborate with Indian companies or simply produce in India”.

This initiative from the government comes at a time when the Centre is coming up with the new Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy which will lay down the way ahead for strengthening defence production within the country and help in their export to friendly foreign countries.

The initiative came after Prime Minister Modi took a review meeting with the Defence Ministry officials including the then Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat where it was felt that strong measures will have to be taken to ensure that country moves firmly towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat in the defence sector. After the meeting took place, an Additional Secretary-rank officer of the Defence Ministry wrote a note to the three Services saying that “All stakeholders may take an in-principle call that no import of defence items is going forward.”

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During the short meeting, held ‘virtually,’ as the defence minister was down with Covid, the issue of procurement under Buy (Global) category came up for discussion during the DAC meeting. It was decided to firmly push indigenisation or as the government said, Atmanirbharata. The Army plan to buy QR SAMs or Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missiles has been turned from a Buy Global to a Buy Indian order. This means that only Indian firms will be able to supply the three regiments of QR SAMs to the Army’s air-defence system.

A similar decision has been taken for the Articulated All Terrain Vehicles which can be used in high-altitude areas. All 18 of them will be purchased from Indian vendors. This was initially a Buy Global case. The decision about light machine guns for the Army followed a similar pattern. This will also be Buy and Make Indian.

There are, of course, weaponry that are urgently needed and cannot be immediately made in India like tank engines, gun-missile systems, high-quality rifles, not to speak of fighter planes like the Rafale. These issues will again come up for discussion in the next DAC meetings on January 20 and 21.

Under the Buy (Global) category, procurement is done directly from the foreign Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). The decision taken will not impact deals already inked under the Buy (Global) route, those being pursued under the government-to-government route and the Foreign Military sales (FMS) route with the US.

Foreign OEMs are now welcome to tie up with Indian firms or set up their own factories to not only supply the Indian military but also for other countries.

The defence services were earlier asked to prepare a list of procurement plans from abroad that could be replaced by indigenous items. Accordingly, each service — Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard — had come forward with a list of such items.

The items in question

One mega deal in this list was the procurement of 14 twin-engine helicopters, for which French firm Airbus was the prime contender. A decision has been taken to shelve this project in favour of the naval utility helicopter (NUH) of the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). However, it was not immediately clear what happened to the $3 billion project of the Navy to procure 111 new helicopters of the same class (that is, NUHs).

The Army will now go in for indigenous ATVs that will come handy in both the desert and mountains.

A project to acquire short range missiles from abroad has also been shelved in favour of the Make in India route.

Push for Make in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh have been emphasising on indigenous defence products. These issues came up for discussion multiple times and the forces were also amenable to this, since alternate items were already available domestically and foreign companies were willing to set up facilities in the country.

Singh, in his talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, made it clear that the way forward was Make in India. Similarly, during his meeting with French Defence Minister Florence Parly, Singh had called on French firms to “either collaborate with Indian companies or simply produce in India”.

This initiative from the government comes at a time when the Centre is coming up with the new Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy which will lay down the way ahead for strengthening defence production within the country and help in their export to friendly foreign countries.

The initiative came after Prime Minister Modi took a review meeting with the Defence Ministry officials including the then Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat where it was felt that strong measures will have to be taken to ensure that country moves firmly towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat in the defence sector. After the meeting took place, an Additional Secretary-rank officer of the Defence Ministry wrote a note to the three Services saying that “All stakeholders may take an in-principle call that no import of defence items is going forward.”

The Prime Minister has been personally reviewing the progress of Make in India in the defence sector and has from time to time asked officials in both services and the Defence Ministry to ensure that more steps are taken to promote Make in India in defence.

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