Strive for self-reliance in defence production

India’s ‘arms dependency’ represents an acute vulnerability as far as national security and strategic autonomy are concerned

There is a huge irony in the fact that India, the world’s second largest arms importer, also happens to possess one of the world’s largest defence technology and industrial bases (DTIBs), comprising the vast Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), with its network of 50 laboratories, backed by 16 Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), including 41 ordnance factories recently ‘corporatised’ into seven DPSUs. Over the years, this complex has delivered an array of military hardware - warships, submarines, fighters, tanks, and aero-engines, two ‘cherries on the cake’ being the recent delivery of a 42,000-tonne aircraft carrier and a light combat helicopter, both designed and built in India.

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