Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said India's bid for 'Aatmanirbharta' should be viewed as a quest for technological sovereignty, stressing that self-reliance means ensuring critical defence needs are not dependent on external sources.
In his address at the Delhi Defence Dialogue hosted by a think-tank, Singh also underlined the importance of technology in warfare and said military preparedness in the 21st century cannot be separated from technological and industrial preparedness.
“As we set our eyes on 2047, our aim in the defence sector should be ambitious,” he said.
The defence minister also asserted that the difference between conventional and unconventional warfares is “becoming increasingly blurred” today.
The dialogue, hosted by Delhi-based Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), brought together senior officers from the defence ministry, domain experts from the country and abroad, and industry representatives.
“Aatmanirbharta must be understood as a quest for technological sovereignty. It does not mean producing everything ourselves... It means ensuring that our critical defence requirements are not held hostage to external dependencies,” the defence minister said.
He asserted that India's pursuit of self-reliance is "not a retreat from world", rather it symbolises a confident and technologically capable India better positioned to engage with international partners.
He noted that while traditional partnerships based on procurement, licensed manufacturing and transfer of technology have contributed to India's industrial capabilities, future requirements call for a more ambitious approach based on "co-development, co-production and shared innovation".
"Such partnerships should ensure meaningful Indian participation in design and development, access to critical technologies, appropriate sharing of intellectual property and opportunities for Indian companies to participate in global supply chains.
"Our large domestic market, expanding industrial base and strong pool of scientific and engineering talent offer significant opportunities for international companies to partner with Indian industry," he said.
Singh underlined that reforms represent the nation's willingness to change, 'Aatmanirbharta' symbolises its determination to create, collaborations reflect its confidence to partner with the world, and exports demonstrate its readiness to compete globally.
He emphasised that these four elements must progress together, as self-reliance without reforms, international collaborations and exports would limit India's technological horizons, industrial scale and global competitiveness.
Recent conflicts across the world have demonstrated a fundamental transformation in the character of warfare, with battlefields extending beyond land, sea and air into space, cyberspace and the digital domain, he said, adding that the ability to innovate rapidly, manufacture at scale and replenish capabilities has become as important as possessing advanced weapon systems.
The defence minister reiterated the government's commitment to encouraging greater private sector participation in the development and manufacturing of advanced defence platforms and systems.
"Opportunities for private participation in programmes such as the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, propulsion systems, ATAGS, artillery ammunition and shipbuilding will accelerate indigenous development, expand manufacturing capacity and strengthen India's position in the global defence market. These initiatives are creating opportunities for wider participation by private industry, MSMEs, start-ups and academia," he said.
Singh emphasised that the defence forces must remain important stakeholders in the R&D process, as their operational experience and understanding of the battlefield are invaluable in informing research priorities and assessing the relevance of emerging technologies.
He called for striking the "right balance" by allowing operational requirements to inform research, while preserving the independence and intellectual space necessary for innovation.
The minister underscored the importance of encouraging experimentation and ensuring that successful innovations move beyond laboratories and prototypes towards production and operational induction. The objective must be to create an ecosystem in which innovation is encouraged, investment is sustained and successful ideas are translated into capabilities, he said.
Earlier, terming ‘Aatmanirbharta’ a “strategic necessity”, Navy chief Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, in his address, said that there is a need to build a navy that can fight, sustain and adapt without being constrained by extraneous factors or external dependencies.
He emphasised that 'Aatmanirbharta' doesn't mean isolation, and pitched for collaborating with friendly foreign countries “from a position of strength, and not from a position of weakness”.
Underlining the need for building greater self-reliance in defence, the Navy chief also said that all stakeholders need to put their minds and hearts together to build a navy that can “answer the requirements of 21st-century national security and make every single one of us proud”.
The theme of his address was 'Aatmanirbharta in Naval Systems at 2047'.
