Letters: Don't waste time

The column, "Building a combat vehicle" (August 4), indicates that defence procurement agencies are a confused lot and vital decisions, which should be taken at the earliest, are kept in abeyance. The typical process is this: all available literature on the equipment is gathered and its multiple characteristics collated. The idea is to include as many features as possible to demonstrate how exhaustively the task has been performed. Thereafter, as the draft travels up the chain of command, it gathers additional parameters, as each officer feels compelled to suggest more improvements. At best this remains an academic exercise.

According to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV) is supposed to be a design and development project, to be executed in three stages: design, prototype development and production. This process will take over a decade. Last year, a proposal to procure 2,600 vehicles was scrapped. Indian manufacturers have tied up with established collaborators with impeccable track records, who are regarded as world leaders in the manufacture of the FRCV. The defence team should select any available design and manufacture FRCVs as part of a joint venture instead of the roundabout and time-consuming process of a three-stage project. These vehicles should be manufactured in India; DRDO should not waste time in circuitous methods.

M M Gurbaxani Bengaluru

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