Air Marshal PK Barbora

New Delhi, Nov. 19: Politicians cutting across party lines are upsetting armed forces’ modernisation and procurement programmes, the vice chief of the air force, Air Marshal P.K. Barbora, today told a gathering of Indian and foreign industry representatives.

The plainspeaking air marshal, who has taken some flak from feminists for saying earlier this week that women cannot be fighter pilots because they get pregnant, may have made more foes today. But the fact is he has only said in public what most armed forces officers express frustration about in private.

“Please pardon me for saying things which must be said,” he told the gathering at a seminar hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Centre for Air Power Studies, an Indian Air Force-supported think tank.

The air marshal’s remarks may anger politicians and bureaucrats, who insist that the government is doing everything to modernise the armed forces.

The fact remains that the IAF’s fleet of fighter aircraft is getting depleted. The navy’s submarine strength is dwindling and the army has not added a new gun to its heavy artillery in more than 20 years.

The weapons, ammunition and systems with the armed forces are getting outdated faster than the government is able to replace them.

Barbora said the work ethic in defence public sector undertakings and the Centre’s unwillingness to raise the bar on foreign direct investment was taking a toll on the preparedness of the armed forces.

“Irresponsible politics over the years, sometimes when a party is in government or sometimes when it is in the Opposition — it has all along been seen that whenever the government of the day clears something, the Opposition says ‘no’. This badly impinges (on the preparedness) of the defence (forces),” he said.

The government has limited foreign direct investment in companies manufacturing equipment for the armed forces to 26 per cent. But major foreign companies want the limit to be raised to 49 per cent.

The Centre had shot down a joint venture proposal from BAE Systems and Mahindra Defence Systems on these grounds.

Barbora picked on the largest defence public sector company, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which proudly advertises that it makes doors for Airbus aircraft. “Look at China,” said Barbora, “they make the whole damned aircraft.”

“Private industry has to evolve and be given a market of their choosing and not our choosing, of course with certain guidelines,” he said. India was spending far too much importing aircraft instead of investing in the aerospace manufacturing sector within the country.

He urged representatives of private companies to learn from the Chinese to “reverse engineer” and develop technologies.

“China has done all the reverse engineering. Has anyone ever had the courage to ask China why are you doing it? No one cares a hoot. If you can’t do it yourself, you should know how to reverse engineer. We have not been able to move forward for some reason or the other,” Barbora said.