It is not intentionally wrecking anything; it is the natural evolution of replacing an underperforming entity with a more competent one. MoD is trying to create a level playing field for the private sector. According to your statement you cant be arguing against it.
Natural evolution would mean you qualify cos to be sub system integrators like you've for the LCA program & have HAL as the lead integrator. That way you build up the ecosystem .
This would be true even if the GoI doesn't free HAL from its control though that's the best way forward for the future of HAL & the well being of the Indian aerospace ecosystem. But then again since when have we taken the wisest course of action.
We usually do so after exhausting all the bad options first. If the company survives all these experiments , we then go about doing what we ought to have done right at the beginning.
The current scheme appears to be half baked . We don't even know the stakes , the company chosen to partner HAL will hold in the JV / SPV . If the stakes are divided into 50% each , both become equal shareholders . Who's going to be the lead integrator then ? This is nothing but a recipe for disaster.
You cant support monopoly and say they need level playing field !. That screams romanticism. It is amusing that you choose to highlight the issues of a state-run monopoly when the private sector was practically banned from participating.
Just to be clear I'm not supporting a monopoly. I'm for HAL to be out of MoD's control to function as an independent entity.
I'm also for those cos pre qualified to function as sub lead integrators in the AMCA project like is the case with LCA.
Let these cos also participate in the future Mk-1a requirements , the forthcoming Mk-2 , TEDBF as well as the AMCA program . That way you build up an independent co as a competitor to HAL when the 6th Gen FA program is launched.
Considering you as you were part of the system at some level i can understand it. But you have to come to terms with how we are shifting towards a free-market capitalism.
I don't think you understand the difference between free market enterprise & strategic investments . You seem to be applying the same yardstick to HAL that you would to Air India .
Then there is nothing more to argue!.
"If only OFB had better machines", no one ever said.
The issues are not machines, but rather incentives and motivation. The public sector does not have them because it is owned by the government.
(Sorry, I forgot to click "reply" when I wrote it.)
Please acquaint yourself with the equipment & working conditions of OFB . I don't think you've the slightest clue about the way these entities are functioning.
This isn't to say that they aren't corrupt or incompetent or just plain lousy. The question I've posed earlier & now is the same - how did they reach their current status ? Is it only these OFBs who're to blame ? What's the role of the MoD in these OFBs being the way they are .
The solution now seems to be perform or perish . Once again without giving them the tools or independence necessary to see them through the transition.
Result - at some point in time since the present situation is untenable there will come a day when either some or most of these OFB entities will be shuttered. It's called throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
