Whether the Rafale is the best fighter jet for us or not is an endless argument no one is willing to concede (Cutting through the Sky, Apr 27). The real issue is that, a decade of St Antony’s stewardship of the MoD has crippled the armed forces. If the Rafale deal had been reopened, it would have taken another 15 years for the first MMRCA to enter operational service. Also, the performance of HAL vis-a-vis the defence shipyard is woeful. HAL hasn’t even been able to build a suitable trainer, the HT-2 and HJT-6 being way behind their contemporaries. I have it on good authority that one vice chief of air staff told the Society of Aeronautical Engineers, “You guys are useless. Let alone design us a good aircraft, you can’t even reverse engineer (copy!) someone else’s design.” Not a statement well received.
Arun Visvanathan, Chennai
Your cover story exposes the layers of secrecy which the military industrial complex is wrapped in, be it in developed countries like the US or developing countries like ours. In the present climate, questioning any of the government’s decisions is termed anti-national but we must be on guard. Colossal sums of money are involved, India is the world’s largest arms importer now and we score very high on the Transparency International’s corruption index. Three reasons to worry.
Rakesh Agrawal, Dehradun
The Rafale deal will be a slow death for PSU HAL. Rafale can choose its Indian partners, so it will be the corporates who benefit. Also, there is no technology transfer, which means ‘Make in India’ too won’t benefit much.
V.N.K. Murti, Pattambi
It’s about time we closed down HAL and handed over defence production to private players. The military hardware business is lucrative and if allowed, India Inc will surely be able to make a mark. Also, why not break DRDO—which I am sure is full of frustrated bright engineers being made to run around by our babus—into small pieces and run it on the lines of the US National Labs.
Ravi Jain, Hyderabad
Private companies can’t do R&D, for it’s very costly and there’s no profit in it. If the space programme was conducted by private firms, we would still be on the ground. Even in the US, most initial designs have been done by the military with government money and university research.
Parthasarathy Shakkotai, Long Beach, US
The induction of private entrepreneurs in defence is the key if ‘Make in India’ has to work. Of course, our commie comrades will shun any mention of this. They would prefer to arm our 1.25 billion people with bows and arrows to fight future wars.
M.A. Raipet, Secunderabad
The Rafale deal may sound sweet now, but in the long run, opening up the defence sector maps a road towards extreme capitalism and an emasculated democracy. Moreover, the hushed atmosphere in which this deal progresses makes one question the motives of this government. The PM has a strong majority in Parliament. Why then refrain from tabling this there?
Koshika Krishna, Mumbai
Our defence deals have been infamous for dubious intermediaries and kickbacks, which is why previous regimes have been fighting shy of it of late. PM Modi has a good majority and can take decisions in the national interest, without fear or favour.
M.C. Joshi, Lucknow
These days, any decision taken is bold for it’s so rare. Just that in today’s climate it’s fraught with danger. Hopefully, Modi will not be implicated in court cases after he demits office like Manmohan Singh and others from the previous cabinet.
Rajesh, Phoenix, US
