NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday staked India's claim on hypersonics, drones and counter-drone systems as the next frontier of military self-reliance, telling the country from the ramparts of the Red Fort that it must stop buying its way to security and start selling next-generation defence technology to the world.
"There is no alternative to being self-reliant in defence," he said. "When countries around the world are increasingly thinking about their own interests, Bharat cannot simply remain a market for the world."
Naming "Raksha Shakti" as one of seven streams of power that will carry the country to the government's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047, Modi made a blunt case for bearing the costs of indigenisation.
Foreign equipment may be cheaper and quicker to acquire, he conceded, but it builds nothing at home. "Relying on them does not build our own capabilities, nor does it test the strength of our capabilities," he said, adding that Make in India, Swadeshi and Vocal for Local had struck a chord with citizens.
The sharpest passage of the address dealt with the changing character of war. There was no longer any guarantee, Modi said, that a conflict would stay confined to the borders.
Refineries, the banking system and data centres are now targets in what he called a new form of combat, one aimed at infrastructure and factories rather than formations.
Work on Mission Sudarshan Chakra, announced in an earlier Independence Day address, was "progressing rapidly", he said.
The mission is expected to yield a multi-layered air defence shield running from short-range systems and counter-drone weapons to long-range surface-to-air missiles and ballistic missile defence, tied into a single network to protect critical assets.
Cybersecurity, Modi added, has become a theatre of defence in its own right and one where young Indian technologists can serve both the country and the world.
He put numbers to the last 12 years, with defence production up nearly fourfold, exports rising almost 50 times and Indian defence products now reaching about 100 countries.
"Whether the challenge is within or beyond the borders, India is prepared for any situation," he said. "India's reputation is gradually increasing on the global stage."
The most concrete announcement of the morning concerned civil defence. India's civil defence machinery, built largely for the conflicts of the past century, has grown obsolete, Modi said.
The government will now build a wider civil defence network and train a large volunteer force on modern systems, he said, casting preparedness as a shared national duty rather than the preserve of the armed forces.
Modi closed the defence portion of his address with a nod to Nari Shakti, saying women graduating from the National Defence Academy were showing they could lead the military "with great confidence and authority".
