Reverse engineering for wealth, military muscle

China has exploited reverse engineering to catapult itself into the big league economically and militarily. India should, too.

Though the world's fifth-largest economy, India is hardly a significant military muscle, notwithstanding our vast army, air force and navy. Evidence? Our recent desperate appeal to Russia for the blueprints of assault rifles during the Galwan stand-off. Nations with military muscle ought to be able to make their own rifles. Especially in the 21st century.

India is indeed taking steps to address this situation and is engaged in technology discussions with countries like the US and France, focussing on fostering collaboration, driving innovation, and strengthening bilateral relations. A wide range of technological aspects, such as research and development, cybersecurity, the digital economy, intellectual property rights, and emerging technologies, are being covered in these talks.

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However, the most significant technology transfer is in the realm of defence cooperation, where one agreement allows General Electric to produce jet engines in India for military aircraft. Another facilitates the procurement of US-made General Atomics armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones. While these endeavours may provide some improvement to our defence capabilities, the outcomes are likely to be very long-term and only marginally impactful, failing to position us as major exporters of advanced weaponry or aircraft in the foreseeable future.

Even if we overlook the considerable challenges posed by US regulations governing the export of defence technology, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and others, the results will be long in coming. It remains uncertain whether GE will share the necessary metallurgical technology for manufacturing turbine blades from suitable high-tensile steel, despite media reports suggesting the production of 500 GE F-414 engines in India under a technology transfer agreement. Realistically, the establishment of fighter jet production in India may not materialise until 2035 or 2040. Given that the F-414 engine's service life is about 60 years, India's defence forces may remain dependent on the American engines well into the 22nd century.

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To bridge the gap and establish India as a powerful nation, we should consider the potential of reverse engineering – the process of analysing a product, system, or software to understand its design, functionality, or operation – more closely and more extensively in more technologically advanced areas.

While China has a rich history of successful reverse engineering, particularly in technology and industrial development, India has under-leveraged this potential. In the 1950s and 1960s, China caught up with Western technology largely through reverse engineering. They meticulously dissected and studied imported machinery, comprehending their components and functionalities, and subsequently reproducing similar versions using domestic resources.

Even China's aerospace sector leveraged reverse engineering extensively. For instance, the development of the J-11 fighter jet involved technical assistance and reverse engineering of the Su-27 acquired from Ukraine in the 1990s. China has since developed its own advanced fighter aircraft (and now a commercial jet), such as the J-20, incorporating indigenous design elements.

Similarly, China reverse-engineered much of its high-speed railway from technology imported from Japan, Germany, and France. Chinese engineers diligently studied and adapted foreign technology, eventually creating their own world-renowned high-speed trains and railway systems.

India, too, possesses the capability to undertake reverse engineering. With a thriving engineering and technology sector, along with skilled professionals and research institutions, India has some demonstrated capacity for reverse engineering, particularly in industries such as automotive, electronics, software, and manufacturing. But significant potential exists to expand these efforts significantly on more value-added technology leading to vastly greater exports.

For example, India, given its large and ongoing infrastructure investments, has a steep demand for tunnel boring machines (TBMs). We import these expensive machines or make them in India with foreign collaboration for the know-how. While such collaborations may be a good start, to eventually become exporters of such high value-added technology, we need to indigenise and own the know-how. There is no reason why a company like BEML cannot apply reverse engineering to a greater degree to indigenise TBMs.

It is not my case that reverse engineering can replace the need for basic R&D or that any country can make aircraft or rocket engines using reverse engineering alone. But reverse engineering, as is China’s experience, can often lead to an enhanced culture of R&D in science and technology, with spin-off effects in many fields.

Perhaps it is time to consider establishing a ‘National Centre of Reverse Engineering’, potentially through a public-private partnership involving government R&D institutions like DRDO, ISRO, or others like HAL, BEML, IITs, and IISc alongside the private sector, which needs to pull its weight in R&D spend. In fact, there may be a case for imposing a levy on reverse engineering in specific sensitive sectors, accompanied by a matching grant from the central government. Such a course could accelerate India's progress toward its rightful place in the global community. We do not have to end the first quarter of this century not being able to make our own rifles.

Our expenditure on R&D is a woeful 0.7-0.8 per cent of GDP, and our share of global trade exports a disheartening 1.57 per cent. Reverse engineering could be our supplementary ticket to prosperity.

Major powers like the US, China, Germany, France, the UK and Russia excel in the arms and aircraft manufacturing industry, solidifying their positions as significant exporters. We need to aim for a share of that lucrative pie.

It is humbling to realise that our modest per capita GDP of $2,300 is itself an overestimate when faced with the fact that the wealth of our top 57 billionaires is equivalent to the wealth of the bottom 70 per cent (98 crore individuals) of our population! If we exclude the influence of these 57 billionaire individuals from GDP calculations, the per capita income will take a steep nosedive.

If we are to augment our national income and develop some military muscle, we need to become major exporters of significantly value-added technologies. We may have largely missed the bus to complement China in manufacturing at the lower end of technology. But can we leapfrog that missed opportunity through reverse engineering in upstream technologies?

(The writer is a former professor, IIM-Ahmedabad)