Page 6 - ADT JANUARY 2021 Online Magazine

Export Drive by the strategy for defence exports without
India has been making steady progress in exports of defence which the economic base of the defence indus-
products to countries including the U.S, Australia, Finland, France, try would be difficult to sustain in the present
Germany, Israel, South Africa and Sweden. These countries are economic competitive environment. [ REPORT ]
in the list of 42 nations that also included Azerbaijan, Seychelles,
Estonia, Indonesia, Guinea and the Philippines. Along with recommendations to streamline
defence procurement, the new policy sets sev-
Indian defence product exports to Australia included 5.56x45mm eral ambitious production targets, including an
Ball MK N(SS109) cartridges, while it exported protective headgear annual turnover of INR1.75 trillion and exports
and hard armour plates to Azerbaijan, helmets, bomb suppres- of INR350 billion in aerospace and defence
sion blanket and soft armour panels to Germany, sleeping bags goods and services by 2025. “I am confident
to Guinea, mortar shell covers to Israel, hard armour plates to the about it,” defence minister Singh said, adding:
Netherlands and the US, radar parts, bullet proof vests and helmets “We don’t want to see India as an importing
with accessories to Singapore, detonators to South Africa and night nation. Instead, based on your strength, I can
vision binoculars to Thailand. Indian exports to Qatar, Lebanon, Iraq, say that India is sure to become an exporting
Ecuador, Uruguay, Japan and Egypt primarily comprised body pro- nation. Nobody can stop her.”
tecting equipment, a senior government official informed. Though
India has made rapid strides in defence technology and industrial Major Move
base in recent past, it is yet to cover a significant ground in terms In a bid to boost domestic defence manufactur-
of new products development and scale of production. ing, the government late last year approved the
export of the indigenously developed surface-
to-air Akash missile system and established a
panel to ensure faster approvals for acquisition
proposals by various countries. The Akash mis-
sile systems have over 96 per cent indigenous
components and the weapon can hit targets at
a range of 25 km.
Singh said the export version of Akash missiles
would be different from the system currently
deployed with Indian armed forces. The export
of big platforms was minimal. This decision by
the government would help the country improve
its defence products and make them globally
competitive," the defence minister said.
India is also looking at exporting its BrahMos
supersonic cruise missile to the Philippines and
several other countries, The BrahMos missile
“The domestic defence industry would have limited scope for is produced by an Indo-Russian joint venture
investment in R&D and production if it relies only on the domestic and it can be launched from submarines, ships,
demand,” the official said. The Defence Research and Development aircraft or from land platforms. It is learnt that
Organisation (DRDO) identified 108 military systems and subsys- India has held preliminary rounds of talks with
tems like navigation radars, tank transporters and missile canisters the Philippines for supply of the missile.
for the domestic industry to design, develop and manufacture.
“There is a need to promote investment in the defence sector, both India has been gradually strengthening its
in R&D and production, thereby resulting in higher self-reliance strategic collaborations with friendly coun-
and indigenization. While putting in place the policy framework tries in the world. Besides cooperation with
and procedural mechanisms, the thrust would be on indigenous major defence powers such as the U.S. U.K.
production and exploring possibilities of exports to other nations Russia, Israel, France and Germany, India is now
that may look forward to supplies from India,” the defence ministry engaged in a wide range of activities with Chile
official added. and Brazil in the Far-West to Japan and Korea
in the Far-East and has concluded suitable
Creating the Right Conditions defence cooperation agreements with over
Since the defence technology needs long term investment, its 50 countries. The range of defence cooper-
obsolescence is high with low economies of scale. Hence, the ation activities comprise of strategic security
policy of maximizing indigenous production without well supported dialogues that enable understanding of the
R&D policy and export strategy may not bring desired results. participant concerns and establishing areas
Therefore, the defence industrial policy has to be supplemented of common interest.

6 | January 2021 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ ADT