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The then Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat stated this while addressing the 41st DRDO Conference held in October\u00a02019 .<\/p>\nThe then Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat stated this while addressing the 41st DRDO Conference held in October\u00a02019 .<\/p>\n
“India is one of the largest importers of arms and ammunitions and to make such a statement even after 70 years of independence is nothing short of proud. We will surely fight and win the wars to come with indigenous weapon systems”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This past week, another statement made by current Army Chief General Manoj Pandey was noteworthy.\u00a0The Army Chief’s statement was that the Army is collaborating on 230 contracts with 340 indigenous defense industries to develop defense equipment and defense systems for military use.\u00a0These 230 contracts worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore are to be completed by 2025.<\/p>\n
The Indian Navy had issued a statement ahead of the Senior Commanders’ Conference held in October last year.\u00a0The Indian Navy indicated that commanders will undertake a detailed action program to increase indigenization through ‘Make in India’ with the aim of achieving ‘self-sufficiency’ by 2047.\u00a0“We are committed to our promise to the nation that we will be self-sufficient by 2047, and for that we need the support of the industrial world as well.”\u00a0This statement made last month by the current Chief of the Navy, Admiral Hari Kumar, underlines that the Indian Navy is also determined to achieve self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n
In an interview to Indian Aerospace and Defense in October last year, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhary said this.<\/p>\n
“The Air Force aims to create an environment that fosters research institutions, higher education institutions, start-ups, industrial entities and innovative talent to enable innovation and technological development in the field of defense (defense needs).”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Indian Armed Forces have recognized the need to support indigenous industries in the defense sector.\u00a0Increasing imports and relying on foreign technology to build military capabilities, outsourcing national security, is dangerous.\u00a0That is unacceptable.\u00a0Chief of Defense Staff General Anil Chauhan said that a big lesson has been learned from the war in Ukraine that the country cannot depend only on weapons imported from outside countries.<\/p>\n
Recent conflicts teach us the important lesson that a country should be self-sufficient in defence.\u00a0We need weapons and systems designed for the specifics of our terrain. Ukraine is heavily dependent on the West for its defense needs.\u00a0Delays in arms delivery have led to Ukraine’s backlash on the battlefield.\u00a0The weapons given to Ukraine by the West were designed to be fired from anywhere.\u00a0But they failed to utilize its full potential.\u00a0That may be one of the reasons why America’s Abrams tanks were not successful.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Congress has temporarily halted the supply of weapons to Ukraine, putting them in crisis.\u00a0Europe could not satisfy all the demands of Kiev.\u00a0This was good for Russia.\u00a0The Russian defense industry was able to meet most defense needs.\u00a0It increased their military strength.\u00a0This backfired for North Korea, Iran, China, etc.<\/p>\n
Manufacturers can at any time put pressure on the countries receiving the weapons.\u00a0Either they may not be given arms again.\u00a0Otherwise, equipment parts may not be available at the time of need.\u00a0Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets are being monitored by the US around the clock.\u00a0Only from there they can buy weapons.\u00a0DRDO developed one of its own after the US denied GPS services during the Kargil war.\u00a0Thus was born Navigation for Indian Constellations (Navik).<\/p>\n
Apart from this, the cost of importation is very high.\u00a0If these are manufactured in India, jobs will be created and the economy will be strengthened.\u00a0Apart from this, there will be an end to corruption in defense agreements.<\/p>\n
In 2014, self-reliance in the field of defense will begin.\u00a0Over the years it has gained new energy.\u00a0By opening the door to the private sector, the Ordnance Factory Board monopolized India’s defense manufacturing sector.\u00a0Defense production in the country has reached new heights.\u00a0The defense manufacturing sector, which was Rs 740 crore in 2017, will reach Rs 1 lakh crore in 2023.<\/p>\n
India’s defense exports increased from Rs 686 crore in FY 2013-14 to Rs 16,000 crore in FY 2022-23.\u00a0Last November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India aims to increase its defense exports to 35,000 crores in the next five years.\u00a0Through this, the aim is to make India a major defense exporting country.<\/p>\n
India has also been able to reduce costs by procuring defense equipment.\u00a0The cost of defense procurement from abroad has been reduced from 46 per cent in 2018-19 to 36.7 per cent in December 2022.\u00a075 percent of the defense procurement budget was through domestic resources in the last financial year.\u00a0According to a press release released by the central government, 68 percent was like this in the previous year.\u00a0In the last three financial years, 122 defense equipment deals were signed.\u00a0It is also noteworthy that 100 of them are with local suppliers.<\/p>\n
Innovations for Defense Excellence (IDX) aimed at developing advanced technology has been a huge success. The government has created confidence in the domestic industry by releasing the indigenous defense production list. The government has published the details on the SRIJAN portal. So far there are 30,000 items in the list.<\/p>\n
India is also making parallel efforts to create awareness among global manufacturers about its manufacturing facilities.\u00a0FDI in this sector increased from 49 percent to 74 percent.\u00a0SAAB was the first company to develop the Carl Gustaf M4 anti-tank rocket system.\u00a0So far, 5077 crore rupees have been received through foreign investment in the field of defence.<\/p>\n
BrahMos, jointly developed by India and Russia, is being tested by various countries.\u00a0Some have also entered into agreements with India.\u00a0Other prominent defense items exported are Akash missile, radars, military vehicles and firearms.<\/p>\n
It also exports Apache helicopters, wings for the F-16, and C-295 medium lift transport aircraft.\u00a0Lockheed Martin has selected India as the assembly-marketing center for its C130J.\u00a0It is the only center of its kind outside the United States.\u00a0This aircraft is serving around seven countries.<\/p>\n
Hyderabad-based Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India Ltd, a joint venture between Adani Defense and Aerospace and Israel’s Elbit Systems, has delivered 20 UAVs to Israel.<\/p>\n
India plans to open up its defense supply chain to the US and thereby link its defense markets to the global supply chain of Indian companies.\u00a0The Society of Indian Defense Manufacturers (SIDM), an association of the Indian defense industry, aims to form an Export Promotion Council.\u00a0The aim is to increase exports.\u00a0This is in addition to the Indian government’s move to organize defense exhibitions etc.<\/p>\n
India is facing two setbacks in this field.\u00a0But both can go hand in hand.\u00a0Technology is the need of the day.\u00a0The need is to develop technology suitable for the modern battlefield.\u00a0Development of such devices is possible only from domestic R&Ds.<\/p>\n
DRDO’s budget is steadily increasing.\u00a0And steps are being taken to reorganize the organization.\u00a0These steps are based on the K Vijayaraghavan Committee report.\u00a0Their future programs are managed from the Prime Minister’s Office.\u00a0But the R&D ratio in India is very low.\u00a0The Indian private defense sector is in its infancy.\u00a0This also requires investment in R&D.<\/p>\n
R&D is a risky business.\u00a0Sometimes it does not give the expected results.\u00a0However, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had said that it is one of the basic elements of the development of all countries while addressing the North Tech workshop last September.<\/p>\n
If India’s defense needs are addressed domestically, more funds will be needed for R&D.\u00a0If R&D is successful, the scientific community will be more connected to users and the academic community.\u00a0All this requires a government intervention.\u00a0If the product improves, the global demand will also increase.<\/p>\n
In ten years we have come a long way in this field.\u00a0Indian industry has proven its mettle.\u00a0But we need support.\u00a0The defense industry still has a long way to go.\u00a0There may be obstacles.\u00a0But all these should be broken and reach the global level.\u00a0The government should take a pro-active approach and join hands for this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The then Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat stated this while addressing the 41st DRDO Conference held in October\u00a02019 . “India is one of the largest importers of arms and ammunitions and to make such a statement even after 70 years of independence is nothing short of proud. We will surely fight and win the wars to come with indigenous weapon systems”. This past week, another statement made by current Army Chief General Manoj Pandey was noteworthy.\u00a0The Army Chief’s statement was that the Army is collaborating on 230 contracts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":660464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47748],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660463"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":660466,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660463\/revisions\/660466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}