P-8I Neptune. Performs well, has no Indian equivalent and there’s no similar system in development. Expensive, but forces like and trust it. No one except a handful of chronic complainers whine if Navy wants more.
But when Athos, Stryker, Spike, T-90, Puls, Rafale, Sig, Apache, MQ-9 and other foreign systems are being bought after sabotaging, delaying and bad-mouthing indigenous efforts, that’s where it gets dirty.
Many sarkari labs and PSUs deserve all the hate they get for good reasons. Yet for most of these requirements, the manufacturing of local alternatives is by Indian private sector. There is much better quality control and it is also cheaper, more amiable to upgrades, customised support and IP rights than foreign imports.
But the local products are still held to near impossible standards which foreign imports hardly ever see. Examples include Mirage (including upgrades), Mig-29 (including naval versions), Mig-23, Mig-27, Mi-26, INS Vikramaditya, SPYDER, Su-30, Jaguar, Rafale, T-90 and many others.
For all except the willingly blind, it should be quite apparent after some of recent lessons from Mirage upgrades, GE engines and Su-30 Brahmos integration. All foreign countries extracted huge premiums and imposed their own policy on Indian defence preparedness.
Instead of addressing these issues, what do some sections in Indian govt do? They attack their own organisations and citizens through the proxy of mind-numbingly dumb, NREGA influencer wannabes. These people are OK if you want CSD daaru, free ration and ladli behen votes, but not for anything useful.
The emotional blackmail of patriotism and the tired refrain of “tum civilians nahin samjhoge” works only up to a point. Beyond that, it stops being national interest and starts looking like fear of scrutiny.
Image credit: https://thediplomat.com/2020/02/indias-navy-to-receive-first-of-four-p-8i-neptune-maritime-patrol-aircraft-in-april/
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