14-Jan-2021: India’s First Indigenously Developed 9mm Machine Pistol
India’s first indigenous 9mm Machine Pistol has been jointly developed by DRDO and Indian Army. Infantry School, Mhow and DRDO’s Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune have designed and developed this weapon using their respective expertise in the complementary areas. The weapon has been developed in a record time of four months. The Machine Pistol fires the in-service 9mm ammunition and sports an upper receiver made from aircraft grade Aluminium and lower receiver from carbon fibre. 3D Printing process has been used in designing and prototyping of various parts including trigger components made by metal 3D printing.
The weapon has huge potential in Armed forces as personal weapon for heavy weapon detachments, commanders, tank and aircraft crews, drivers/dispatch riders, radio/radar operators, Closed Quarter Battle, counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations etc. This is also likely to find huge employability with the central and state police organizations as well as VIP protection duties and Policing. The Machine Pistol is likely to have production cost under rupees 50000 each and has potential for exports.
The weapon is aptly named “Asmi” meaning “Pride”, “Self-Respect" & “Hard Work”.
Keeping the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of AatmaNirbhar Bharat in view, this small step will pave way for self-reliance and it is expected that the Services and Paramilitary Forces (PMFs) will induct this expeditiously.
7-Feb-2020: DGQA’S Role in MoD Schemes for Incentivizing Defence Manufacturing
DGQA had conducted a seminar on the Role in MoD Schemes for Incentivizing Defence Manufacturing on 07 Feb 2020 at DefExpo 2020 to discuss various Schemes of Defence Ministry to facilitate the domestic defence industry. The seminar had highlighted and showcased the following new Schemes launched / being launched by the Department of Defence Production.
Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti: This Scheme aims at inculcating IP culture in Indian defence manufacturing ecosystem. An Intellectual Property Facilitation Cell (IPFC) has been constituted which has trained more than 15,000 people on IPR and enabled filing of more than 1000 new IPR applications.
Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS): This Scheme will facilitate in setting up 6 to 8 state-of-the-art test facilities by providing a Grant-in-Aid of Rs 400 Cr. This will provide a major impetus for domestic defence industries as defence testing and certification infrastructure is not available which is necessary requirement for manufacture and production.
Proof Ranges: DGQA has made available proof ranges and laboratories to the private industry for carrying out dynamic proof trials and development activities at nominal costs.
Self-Certification & Green Channel: Accord of Green Channel Status and self-certification to qualifying Indian firms is expected to cut down inspection timelines and costs in the foreseeable future. These schemes are meant to target mature products where domestic defence industry has gained reasonable expertise in the technology deployed.
Defence Export Promotion Scheme (DEPC): The DEPC has been launched with an objective to provide an opportunity for indigenous manufacturers to market their products globally and to enhance annual defence exports to Rs 35,000 crores by 2025.
Third Party Inspection Scheme: Under this Scheme manufacturers have the option to undertake inspection through Third Party agencies for non-critical defence stores manufactured by the private industry within India.
DGQA in partnership with BDL and C-DAC is showcasing the Evolutionary and Innovative Implementation of Industry 4.0 by use of IoT, Blockchain, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Production and Quality Assurance of KONKURS-M Missile Launcher at DefExpo 2020. The Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was shown a VR clip of the project and given a brief on the Unique Enterprise Solution during his visit to the India Pavilion on 05 Feb 2020.
3-May-2018: Inaugural meeting of the Defence Planning Committee
The inaugural meeting of the Defence Planning Committee was held under the chairmanship of the National Security Adviser Shri Ajit Doval. Besides the three Service Chiefs, the committee comprises Defence Secretary Shri Sanjay Mitra, Expenditure Secretary Shri Ajay Narayan Jha, Foreign Secretary Shri Vijay Keshav Gokhale and Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, Lt General Satish Dua, who is also the Member Secretary. The members deliberated upon the geo-strategic landscape and agreed to chart a time-bound action plan in keeping with its broad mandate.
19-Apr-2018: Government establishes a Defence Planning Committee (DPC)
In a significant defence policy reform notified on April 18, 2018, the government has revamped the existing defence planning system by establishing a Defence Planning Committee (DPC) under the chairmanship of the National Security Adviser (NSA). This new institutional mechanism, set up as a permanent body, is intended to “facilitate a comprehensive and integrated planning for defence matters” – a vital ingredient in defence preparedness, which was conspicuously missing in the mechanism set up in the early 2000s in the wake of the Kargil conflict. The new measure, arguably the boldest defence reform in decades, is likely to have a far reaching consequence on the way defence planning is undertaken and on defence preparedness.
Salient Features of the New Mechanism
The heart of the new institutional mechanism is the all-powerful DPC with the NSA at the helm. The Committee has a cross-section of members drawn from the higher echelons of the civil and military services including the three service chiefs (one of whom is the Chief of Staff Committee, COSC), the Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, and Secretary (Expenditure) of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), with the chief of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) performing the task of member secretary. Besides, the NSA is empowered to co-opt other members as and when required.
The charter of duties of the DPC is of two fold. One, it is tasked to ‘analyse and evaluate all relevant inputs relating to defence planning”, which includes, among others, the “national defence and security priorities, foreign policy imperatives, operational directives and associated requirements, relevant strategic and security-related doctrines, defence acquisition and infrastructure development plans, including the 15-year Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP), defence technology and development of the Indian defence industry and global technological advancement.”
Second, the DPC is tasked to prepare at least five different sets of drafts including: “national security strategy, strategic defence review and doctrines; international defence engagement strategy; roadmap to build defence manufacturing eco-system; strategy to boost defence exports; and prioritised capability development plans for the armed forces over different time-frames in consonance with the overall priorities, strategies and likely resource flows.”
HQ IDS, which was established in October 2001 consequent to the decision of the Group of Ministers (GoM) based on the Kargil Review Committee (KRC) Report is to function as the Secretariat for the DPC, in addition to performing its usual secretariat function for the Chief of Staff Committee. In order to assist the functioning of the DPC, the new mechanism provides for four sub-committees, one each on Policy and Strategy, Plans and Capability Development, Defence Diplomacy, and Defence Manufacturing Eco-System. The reports of the DPC are to be submitted to the Defence Minister and further approval are to be taken as required.
Towards Credible Defence Preparedness
The formation of the DPC is likely to bridge a key gap in the existing defence planning mechanism, which, for long, was thought would be met through the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as the ultimate arbitrator of all requirements of the armed forces including the planning aspects. With the CDS not finding favour with successive political dispensations, the existing system of HQ IDS-led planning is perceived to have given way to the parochial interests of various stakeholders. This has had an adverse impact not only on how security threats were perceived by various security organs, but also on how scarce resources are distributed among the services and within the various branches of each service. Equally importantly, the existing planning process has had very little control on such aspects as true indigenisation and self-reliance in defence procurement matters, which are being vigorously pursued through the ‘Make in India’ programme.
Overall, the extant system of defence planning resulted in: the provision of less than adequate resources to meet numerous security challenges; chasing goals that were not of immediate priority; duplication and wastage of scarce resources; giving less than required focus on new technological advancements while pursuing manpower driven military modernisation; and, a defence R&D and manufacturing base losing its sight on self-reliance.
With the powerful DPC in place and the NSA assuming the role of de facto CDS for all practical purposes other than in operational matters, the defence planning process is expected to become more rational as well as provide a much needed boost to defence preparedness. The realistic enough expectation is that the DPC would clearly articulate the key national security/ defence/ military goals as well as prioritise defence and security requirements as per the likely available resources while at the same time providing adequate focus on emerging security challenges, technological advancements, and establishing a strong indigenous defence manufacturing base.