Strategic and futuristic technology in the defence sector can only come through a real partnership with industry, said Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri, while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of ‘DEFTECH 2016 – Realising Make in India through Defence R&D’, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and supported by the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). “Industry should use imagination and innovation to build products for tomorrow,” he stated.
The seminar aimed at enhancing partnership of industry in defence research and development with DRDO. Dr Reddy urged the industry to engage with the incubation centres of various universities which would complement the research initiatives of DRDO. He added that interactions between DRDO and industry are at an all-time high.
Dr Reddy said that Make in India concept has been well received. However, he cautioned that Make in India should not stop at Build to Print. Instead, it should also involve indigenous design, development and manufacturing. He added that the Government has already included safeguards through policy to ensure that indigenous products get priority even if they are priced a little higher than imports.
Lt Gen Subrata Saha, Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Planning & Systems), stated that during the course of travel, he felt that solutions to the Army’s needs should come locally and added that the Army would go out of their way to provide an opportunity to replace imports with indigenous products.
Mr Baba Kalyani, Chairman, CII National Committee on Defence & Chairman, Bharat Forge, applauded the efficiency of the DRDO regarding India’s quest towards self-reliance. He said that decision making has become faster in the last 2 years as several issues are being addressed.
Keeping in mind Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of developing India’s technology, Mr Kalyani said that the DRDO should now develop products which would be futuristic in nature.
Mr Satish Kaura, Co-Chairman, CII Sub-Committee on Offsets, and Chairman, SAMTEL Group and Mr Sukhvinder Hayer, Chairman, CII National Committee on R&D, and CEO, Mahindra Defence, reiterated the need for industry involvement in defence R&D.