Event Report

The Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) organised a Panel Discussion on “Civil-Military Fusion in India” on Tuesday, 14 June 2022 at 1100h in the MP-IDSA Auditorium.  The discussion was chaired by Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy, the Director General, MP-IDSA who also delivered the opening remarks. The Keynote Address was delivered by Lt. Gen. Raj Shukla, PVSM, YSM, SM, ADC, (Retd.) ex GOC-in-C ARTRAC and discussants included Lt. Gen. C.P. Mohanty, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retd.), former Vice Chief of Army Staff, Shri Sanjay Mitra, former Defence Secretary, Government of India and AVM Anil Golani (Retd.). The vote of thanks was delivered by Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Bipin Bakshi, AVSM, VSM (Retd.), the Deputy Director General of MP-IDSA. The event was attended by the scholars of MP-IDSA and distinguished serving and retired officers of the Indian Armed Forces, Ministry of Defence, scholars from prominent Think Tanks as also representatives from CII and private industry. The event was also live-streamed on YouTube.

Executive Summary

The concept of Civil-Military Fusion (CMF) denotes the convergence of military and civilian resources and systems for maximising a nation’s ability to express its comprehensive national power both during war and peacetime. The circulation of resources between civilian and military departments as well as private industry and academia has been inadequate in India. There is an urgent need for opening up hitherto fore protected areas such as high-end technology defence manufacturing, space and cyber technologies to the private sector which has enormous talent and resources. A revolving door mechanism between civil and military as practiced in the US will be highly advantageous for India and this would facilitate ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ in defence manufacturing. In the early years after Independence, the then prevailing political maxims of India discouraged entrepreneur zeal, business development and capacity building which are the key pillars of wealth creation. Qualitative aggregation of resources and capacity from both the civil and military domains is the cornerstone of CMF. The granite walls that exist between the silos of civil and military institutions must be collapsed in order to allow seamless infusion of talent and capacities in the military, civil services, scientific community, academia, industries, domain experts, technologists and entrepreneurs. The ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic is a clear example of the interdependence of technology and global supply chains. The complex security challenges of the Twenty-First Century demand complex security responses. 

Taking these aspects into context the United States Army Futures Command (AFC) has been established as a public-private partnership. The AFC is strategically located in the city of Austin, Texas which is considered to be America’s innovation hub. The AFC has been a top recruiter of talented students, professionals and entrepreneurs by capitalising on the robust startup ecosystem in Austin. The AFC is an example that denotes the complexity ingrained in the concept of CMF as it consists of numerous layers and nuances.  Another example of a successful CMF is the reservist service in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that has created a revolving door ecosystem between civil and military domains. As a result, talented professionals and technocrats have oscillated between the civil and military domains creating a robust defence startup ecosystem. Similarly, China is also creating a robust CMF through a military-academic complex where the state identifies and funds the brightest students and scholars to pursue doctoral research in the best institutions abroad and subsequently, this talent becomes the driving factor behind China’s technological and scientific innovation in defence manufacturing. Turkey becoming a drone superpower is another example of a successful CMF. The Bayraktar drone which is a product of CMF has bestowed Turkey with power projection capabilities to eliminate inimical threats at the source.

As far as CMF in India is concerned, the foundational metrics are undergoing rapid changes. The establishment of the Chief of Defence Staff & Department of Military Affairs (CDS-DMA) has been path-breaking as it empowered the defence services to think, articulate, design and drive change in the national security system. Despite these changes, India’s delivery in terms of CMF has been sub-optimal. The civilian domain of the Indian startup industry has undergone more growth as opposed to startups working in the military domain. Unless the startups in the military domain gain rapid acceleration, there is a risk of them petering out.

CMF goes beyond the structural merging and also involves the merging of thought processes between the civil and military domains. The Ukraine Crisis where small and agile technologies are challenging traditional legacy systems has illustrated the importance of technological innovations in defence productions. Multidisciplinary research is the key to creating a robust ecosystem in India for achieving self-reliance.The CMF is the right metric and instrument to further embellish India’s national power for attaining a position of prominence in the World.

Detailed Report

Col. Deepak Kumar, Research Fellow, MP-IDSA welcomed the forum by extending his warm wishes to the distinguished panellists, attendees and scholars from MP-IDSA. He described the concept of Civil-Military Fusion (CMF) as the process of combining civil and military resources for achieving a very high level of technological competence.         Col. Kumar stated that the civil society and military have corroborated in the past, especially during the Second World War in countries like the US, Japan and Germany. With these remarks, Col. Kumar welcomed Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy, the Director General, MP-IDSA to deliver his opening remarks to the august gathering.

Opening Remarks

Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy began his opening remarks by defining the concept of CMF as the convergence of military and civilian resources for maximising a nation’s ability to express its comprehensive national power, both during war and peacetime. He described dual-use technologies and collaborations as the heart of civil-military confluence. The Director General pointed out that there have been several instances where military R&D and private enterprises have developed cutting-edge technologies and services that have been used in both the civilian and military domains. He stated that the CMF has gained prominence in recent years mainly due to an array of initiatives taken by Chinese President Xi Jinping towards enhancing CMF in China. The Director-General also brought out that the initiation of CMF in China predates the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Both the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had established defence industries in different parts of China during the Chinese Civil War itself. He stated that after the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s the PRC increased its focus on CMF even further in order to achieve a high degree of self-reliance in diverse fields like atomic bombs, space and defence equipment. During the 1990s China’s defence industries also engaged in manufacturing consumer goods. He recalled that during this era the PLA, in order to raise funds for its modernisation drive, engaged in commercial activities like running hotels, resorts and golf clubs. Eventually, in 1998 the then Chinese President Jiang Zemin banned such activities and directed the PLA to focus on its core soldiering activities while assuring adequate funding for its modernisation efforts. Taking this into context, the Director General stressed that the Government must ensure adequate funding and resources for ensuring CMF develops in a manner that facilitates a nation in achieving its national objective.

The Director General brought out that China is renowned for utilising its academia, scientists, students and entrepreneurs to gain knowledge and intelligence to further its strategic objectives. He highlighted the fact that CMF has been absorbed throughout the annals of history and averred that the foundation of British Colonialism in India was laid through the successful CMF between the British East India Company and the British Crown. He accentuated the fact that with the proliferation of dual-use technologies and the advent of niche technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and drones the relevance and scope of CMF has been expanding.

He brought out that the strategic discourse in India is centred only on jointness among the three services and the need for inclusion of the military into the higher decision-making structures of the Government. He suggested that there is an urgent need for opening up protected areas such as defence manufacturing, space and cyber technologies to the private sector which has enormous talent and resources. He brought out/ stated that although the Government has taken many steps toward enhancing CMF, much more needs to be done. The Director General underscored the importance of the circulation of human resources between civilian and military departments as well as private industry and academia which has been inadequate in India. He opined that a revolving door system between civil and military as practiced in the US will be highly advantageous for India and this would facilitate ‘Make in India’and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ in defence manufacturing. He also suggested that India must evolve its own model for CMF given its historic experience, circumstances and resources. With these remarks, Ambassador Chinoy welcomed Lt. Gen. Raj Shukla to deliver the Keynote Address.

Key Note Address

Lt. Gen. Raj Shukla started his keynote address by recalling his brief stint in MP-IDSA in 2009 as a scholar pursuing research in the area of Civil-Military Relations (CMR). He also recalled the redundant nature of the discourse that then prevailed with regard to CMR in India. Gen. Shukla brought into perspective the evolution of CMF in India since its independence. He stated that the degree of paranoia and suspicion that existed between the civilian leadership and the military in the early years after Independence due to the military coups across India’s neighbourhood, greatly undermined the prospects of CMF in India. He also brought out that the then prevailing political maxims in India discouraged entrepreneurial zeal, business development and capacity building which are the key pillars in wealth creation. Gen Shukla then went on to highlight the key components of comprehensive military power which include jointness among services and technological prowess. He stated that developing each of these characteristics involves decades of policy making and efforts to materialise them on the ground. This has been evident from India’s efforts to implement jointness among the three services.  He pointed out that the current initiatives regarding CMF involve bringing together attributes and talents from diverse domains in the resolute pursuit of national security interest.

Qualitative aggregation of resources and capacities from both the civil and military domains was cited as the cornerstone of CMF by Gen. Shukla. He stressed that granite walls that exist between the silos of civil and military institutions must be collapsed. This would allow the seamless infusion of talent and capacities in the military, civil services, scientific community, academia, industries, domain experts, technologists and entrepreneurs. He invoked a cultural imagery to denote CMF as the fusion of Goddesses Saraswati (Centre of Knowledge and Research), Lakshmi (Centre of Business & Wealth Creation) and Durga (Instrument of Power). Gen. Shukla brought out that the concept of CMF is driven by the philosophy that national security is extremely complex, sophisticated and competitive and that no single institution on its own can realise its objectives. Taking into context the sub-optimal performance of the Russian military in the ongoing Ukrainian War, Gen. Shukla brought out that one of the reasons is their weakness in microelectronics. This is because in the modern military platforms the microchips are a critical component and manufacturing of these microchips has an extensive supply chain that encompasses over seventy nations. A major semiconductor supplier is dependent on almost 1600 suppliers across the globe. He stated that in order to overcome these complexities it is essential to break out of the silos that have been created between civil and military domains. Gen. Shukla cited the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic as a clear example of the interdependence of technology and global supply chains. He opined that complex security challenges of the Twenty-first Century demand complex security responses. 

Gen. Shukla then proceeded to the next segment of his address where he brought out some credible examples to illustrate CMF. The first example that he cited was that of the United States Army Futures Command (AFC) which was established as the Americans realised that they were falling behind in the technological and innovation game with China. The military-academic complex of China is posing a very serious threat to the famed military-industrial complex of the US. Gen. Shukla recalled his meeting with a General of AFC who described this military command as a public-private partnership. The rationale behind the conception of the AFC was to converge the best of both, the public and private sectors, for creating a culture of innovation and delivery. The AFC is strategically located in the city of Austin which is the capital of Texas and is considered to be America’s innovation hub. He described the AFC as a mature entrepreneurial incubator hub with access to cutting-edge talents. The AFC has been a top recruiter of talented students, professionals and entrepreneurs by capitalising on the robust startup ecosystem in Austin. He brought out that entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and his company SpaceX have been the prime driving force behind the revolutionary metamorphosis that the American Military-Industrial complex is currently undergoing. Gen. Shukla underscored that the AFC is an example that denotes the complexity of CMF that encompasses numerous layers and nuances.  

The second example that Gen Shukla cited for understanding CMF was of the reservist service in the IDF that has created a revolving door ecosystem between civil and military domains. As a result, talented professionals and technocrats have oscillated between the civil and military domains creating a robust defence startup ecosystem. IDF’s intelligence corps known as 8200 specialises in identifying and absorbing the best talents from the young Israeli population. They are then groomed into specialists and technocrats who subsequently are instrumental in creating innovations through startups that greatly enhance IDF’s combat capability. Gen. Shukla then took the example of China’s military-academic complex where the government identifies and funds the brightest students and scholars to pursue doctoral research in the best institutions abroad and subsequently this talent becomes the driving factor behind China’s technological and scientific innovation in defence manufacturing. He also pointed out the Chinese tactics of using strategic cunningness and pragmatism for procuring critical technologies as opposed to the traditional methods of procurement. Gen. Shukla brought out that in order to acquire the half-built Soviet Carrier Varyag from a Ukrainian Shipyard, the Chinese Government propped up a PLA basketball player named Xu Zengping as an entrepreneur. Zengping then approached the Ukrainian Government for purchasing the Soviet carrier for the purpose of using it as a floating casino.  Through the payment of bribes, he acquired the hull and managed to transfer it from Europe to Dalian naval shipyard located in northeast China. He highlighted that state deception, commercial funding, business fronting, diplomatic manoeuvring and decisive state intervention as the key elements of tactical defence acquisition that involve the joint efforts from both the military and the civilian domains.

Finally, Gen. Shukla brought out that Turkey’s becoming a drone superpower is yet another example of robust CMF.  It is an example which highlights the integrated efforts of the Turkish technology board, armed forces, and scientific and business community. He stated that Selçuk Bayraktar who is the chief technology officer of the famed Turkish technology company Baykar first started out as a student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Subsequently, the topic of his Masters’ thesis was on the topic “Aggressive Manoeuvring of Unmanned Systems”. After returning to Turkey he developed the Bayraktar TB2 drones which are considered to be a game changer in drone technology. He cited the Turkish President Erdogan’s statement in which he stated that the Bayraktar drone has bestowed Turkey with power projection capabilities to eliminate inimical threats at the source. Gen. Shukla described this as an example of technological prowess being embedded into statecraft. 

Gen. Shukla concluded his keynote address by stating that as far as the evolution of CMF in India is concerned, the foundational metrics are undergoing rapid changes. He underscored that the instrument of force has become much more central to India’s strategic outlook today than in the past. The establishment of the Chief of Defence Staff & Department of Military Affairs (CDS-DMA) was path-breaking as it empowered the defence services to think, articulate, design and drive change in the national security system. He remarked that there have been greater convergences in India’s foreign policy with force and diplomacy becoming complementary to each other. Despite these changes, Gen. Shukla stated that India’s delivery in terms of CMF has been sub-optimal. He said that there are numerous strategic and technological opportunities that have emerged due to the two plus two mechanisms and groupings like QUAD. He emphasised that India would be unable to capitalise on these opportunities unless the domestic technological ecosystem supports CMF. He said that aspects like efficiency, capability, quality and market share have become the new metrics of Indian business ecosystems.  As a result, the defence startup ecosystem in India has also picked up which has been evident from the fact that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has placed orders worth INR 380 crores with three startups. The Indian Army has also placed orders worth INR 300 crores on startups working in the drone domain. However, Gen. Shukla also highlighted the fact that the Indian startup industry working in the civilian domain has achieved more growth as opposed to startups in the military domain. Hence, he expressed concerns that unless the startups in military domain gain rapid acceleration, there is a risk of them petering out.

Gen. Shukla underscored the fact that CMF involves the merging of thought processes between the civil and military domains.  The Ukraine Crisis where small and agile technologies are challenging traditional legacy systems has underscored the importance for integrating technological innovations in defence production. Gen. Shukla ended his keynote address by highlighting the fact that multidisciplinary research is the key for creating a robust ecosystem in India for achieving self-reliance. The CMF is the right metric and instrument to further embellish India’s national power for attaining a position of prominence in the World.

Panels Discussion

First Discussant:  Mr. Sanjay Mitra

Mr. Sanjay Mitra opined that CMF is a great idea, but highly futuristic and therefore India should focus on taking small steps and begin with service integration, civil-military integration and then move on to CMF. He observed that the comparison with China regarding civil-military relations will not help. India should start with transferring the authority for the procurement of military equipment to the armed forces which is currently under the MoD. This step would be the first step towards real integration. The subsequent steps would be moving ahead with jointness, theaterisation and civil-military integration.  According to him, CMF would be a long and challenging process and will not be an immediate solution. While comparing India with China and the US, he said that money is the biggest challenge for India and that while the US and China can invest a lot more in military expenditure and research and development, India is quite far behind them. While concluding, he again placed emphasis on taking small steps to achieve the final goal of CMF.

Second Discussant: Lt. Gen. C.P. Mohanty

Gen. C. P. Mohanty analysed the problem of adopting CMF in India through the prism of behavioural sciences. He highlighted that separation of entities was related to perception which has its roots in India’s colonial past, wherein there was limited interaction even between the navy, army and air force, the three wings of the armed forces. Furthermore, he emphasised that there is a lack of awareness among civilian counterparts about the functioning of military. There is also a lack of mutual trust which is responsible for the creation of a divide and difference of opinion on security matters.

Gen. Mohanty went on to elaborate on these challenges by drawing a comparison with the three stages of an individual’s upbringing. The three stages are birth and social standing; education system and training in the respective institutions and spheres; organisational structure created by the collective human perception that gets strengthened over time. Apart from these, he highlighted that the impact of local influence, which includes the attitudes of senior leadership of the civil and military, is another factor that affects organisational behaviour. According to him, egos lead to undue emphasis on protocol, influencing dissonance or consonance of views. In addition, typecasting of image, which is deeply embedded in the people’s psyche, further encourages a rigid attitude and resistance to change. The various organs of the state such as the armed forces and civil services are also not very aware of the challenges the other services face while discharging their duties. Thus, to address these shortcomings, he suggested some solutions based on the three aforementioned stages.

According to him, the lack of basic awareness about the Indian Armed Forces in schools and educational institutions is a major problem. To bridge this gap, school education should include information on the organisational structure of armed forces, ranks, arms and equipment, and services under the social sciences subject. At a time when the government is revamping the education system, this particular change should also be considered. While discussing the problem of rank structure, he said all the three services have entirely different rank structures and there should be a commonality in rank as in many other countries.

To address the problem of various services, civil and military, being unaware of each other’s challenges, Gen. Mohanty suggested the use of training capsules in different training institutions. These could be conducted by sending teams from defence training institutions to Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and other training academies. There could also be training on civil services in National Defence Academy, Indian Military Academy, etc. He also suggested filling up voids in social interactions in academies to establish a more robust mechanism of understanding each other’s point of view. He further highlighted the importance of tours between military and civilian institutions which can help in bridging the gaps between the two.  

While talking about the organisational interaction, Gen. Mohanty said that at the formation level, these interactions are transactional and more out of necessity and are temporary in nature. There is an absence of common goals and coordination with the civil counterparts is also poor. However, he pointed out this situation is completely different in the states where institutional mechanism is established for interaction, such as unified command in North East and Jammu and Kashmir.

According to him, the major problem lies at service headquarters, which has been adequately covered in Anit Mukherjee’s book The Absent Dialogues.  At this level, he brought out that there is a problem of coordination and to fix this problem there is a need for the service officers to enhance interaction and engage more with their civilian counterparts (Director and Below) who have longer tenures in the office. He also suggested a short training capsule to be structured for the officers who are posted at service headquarters. These capsules should cover the basic understanding of the organisational functioning of civilian counterparts. Similar capsules can be also tailored for civilian counterparts, to inform them about the armed forces. There is a need to enhance the interaction between military and civilian officers. Furthermore, Gen. Mohanty suggested that the recommendation of the think tanks should be implemented by the government.  He concluded by saying that the military leadership also needs to be trusted in the same way the defence services institutions are trusted by the civilian counterparts.  

Third Discussant: AVM Anil Golani

AVM Golani brought out that there are silos within the armed forces and between the armed forces and civil bureaucracy. He explained it by giving the example of the 1965 India-Pakistan War where the political decision was taken to not attack East Pakistan which led to the Indian air force losing lots of its fighter aircrafts. The Indian Armed Forces were also not allowed to attack Peshawar, allowing Pakistan to easily target the Pathankot airfield. Surprisingly, at that time the political leadership allowed Indian Armed Forces to plan their operations according to their convenience with respect to the place and time but this decision was not conveyed in a timely manner to the Indian Air force, Navy and Army. Furthermore, this was again repeated in the case of the Kargil war. He wished that this capitulation on CMF could have started at that time and at a lesser cost.

While addressing the issues associated with CMF, he appreciated the MP-IDSA for its unique fusion at the institute but at the same time, he also questioned its absence in the real world.  To make his point, he gave another example of the Airforce and said that collaboration between the Air Force and Civil Aviation Ministry has not been productive, whether it’s about manning or Crash Fire Tender. Furthermore, to ensure the national interest all the institutions should work together.  He observed that India created Defence Space Agency, however, the results of fusion between Indian Space Research Organisation and the Department of Space are not up to expectations. He concluded by emphasising the need to put words into actions.

Important points made during Q&A session

• Earlier R&D was the domain of Defence Research and Development Organisation. However, gradually, private industries have also entered into this domain to explore untapped opportunities.
• Due to the absence of a guarantee, the private players are not willing to invest a lot in R&D. There is a need for more investment by the government in the R&D sector run by the private players.
• Apprehensions regarding the CMF are there before the change has taken place. Once the change happens, it will be useful for everyone.

The panel discussion was followed by a lively Q&A session and a vote of thanks by Deputy Director-General, Maj. Gen.(Dr.) Bipin Bakshi (Retd.) who stressed that self-reliance in developing cutting-edge military technology will hinge on the aggregation of India’s civil, military, industry and academia. 

Key Takeaways

• Qualitative aggregation of resources and capacities from both the civil and military domains is the cornerstone of CMF.
• CMF is a complex concept that consists of numerous layers and nuances.
• The granite walls that exist between the silos of civil and military institutions must be collapsed in order to allow the seamless infusion of talent and capacities in the military, civil services, scientific community, academia, industries, domain experts, technologists and entrepreneurs.
• The CMF is the right metric and instrument to further embellish India’s national power for attaining a position of prominence in the World.
• Self-reliance in developing cutting-edge military technology will hinge on the aggregation of India’s civil, military, industry and academia. 

Report Prepared by Mr. R. Vignesh, Research Analyst, Military Centre, and Dr. Jatin Kumar, Research Analyst, West Asia Centre, MP-IDSA.

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