Why inducting foreign weapon systems could be dangerous for India?

Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, while speaking at a workshop on 'Indigenisation of Critical Components Currently Being Imported from Foreign OEMs in the Areas of UAV & C-UAS', on Wednesday in Delhi, pointed out that dependence on foreign technologies and weapons weakens India's war preparedness and limits the ability to scale up production. According to him, dependence on foreign original equipment manufacturers could lead to a shortage of critical spare parts for sustenance and round-the-clock availability.

 

Highlighting the importance of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India in defence production, the CDS said the capabilities of foreign weapons and sensors are known to India's adversaries, and this would mean that they can predict India's tactics and doctrinal concepts based on the capabilities of such weapon systems. 

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He pointed out that as the reports of the weapons being imported by India or any other country are out in the open, the adversaries can develop their tactics accordingly. “So, this becomes a severe limitation,” the CDS added. 

 

“But if you are developing systems which are your own, then their capabilities are not known to the enemy, and that may add an element of surprise when actually you are face-to-face in some of the initial encounters at least," he said.

 

We secure our secrets when we innovate, design and build defence equipment in our country, he said and added that this will also ensure that our forces have round-the-clock readiness. 

 

The CDS observed that Operation Sindoor has "shown us as to why indigenously developed UAS and C-UAS built for our terrain and our needs are crucial".

Defence