Referring to a long standing dilemma for the domestic defence development ecosystem, Lt Gen MM Naravane said that `best’ cannot be the enemy of the `good’ and unless systems are inducted and used in the field, they cannot be improved to global standards. Lt Gen MM Naravane said that `best’ cannot be the enemy of the `good’ and unless systems are inducted and used in the field, they cannot be improved and developed to global standards

by Manu Pubby

NEW DELHI: Assuring a pragmatic way ahead for indigenously developed military systems, the Vice Chief of Army Staff has said that forces are now open to inducting locally produced arms even if they don’t meet the `best’ parameters as improvements can be carried out on the go.

Referring to a long standing dilemma for the domestic defence development ecosystem, Lt Gen MM Naravane said that `best’ cannot be the enemy of the `good’ and unless systems are inducted and used in the field, they cannot be improved and developed to global standards.

Vice-Chief-of-Army--Lt-Gen-“I would like to give this commitment and assurance on my part that whatever you produce, we will take. Let it be Mk1 (the first version), the improvements will continue and there will be a Mk II and a MkII,” the officer said at a Defence Attaches Conclave in the capital.
The senior officer touched upon a long standing sore point for the industry and research bodies that have been arguing that the force requirements are too stringent to meet and are often based on foreign standards, making them difficult to match. Several weapons developers have raised concerns that the armed forces keep updating their requirements for weapons platforms.

“In the past, there have been cases where developers have taken time to reach the requirements set by the forces. However, by the time the work is done, the forces revise their requirements upwards as they observe foreign origin equipment. It has been impossible in many cases to catch up as our systems do not even get inducted,” a senior scientist told ET.

Promising to change this approach, Lt Gen Naravane assured a gathering consisting of defence attaches, military officers and representatives from the private and public sectors that the forces will induct locally developed systems and use them.

“Unless we take it, experiment on it and use in the field, how will be we know what it is all about…. My assurance to you is that we fully support indigenous efforts,” the officer said, adding that the Army sees the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as a key partner for this.

In the recent past, the defence ministry has approved several policies to promote indigenous development, including funding of research, opening up its test ranges for private companies and earmarking several technologies for procurement only by Indian companies.