Bangalore: Union Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday said India would continue “unabated” with its modernisation process in a time bound manner without compromising on transparency and fairness.
“Though doubts were raised about modernisation, the process would proceed unabated in a time-bound manner. At the same time, we will not compromise with transparency and fairness at any cost,” Antony said.
Antony also said self-reliance through indigenisation remained the overarching objective. “Self-reliance is not just about numbers or percentage. It is our ability to clearly define those strategic and critical areas in which development of national capability is a must,” he said.
Speaking at a function at defence undertaking BEL here to hand over the advanced Naval Gun Fire Control System to the Navy, he said non-availability of indigenous advanced technologies to meet the needs of the armed forces compelled the country to import nearly 70 per cent of procurement.
“I wish to strongly reiterate that this is highly undesirable. Our government realises the adverse impact of continued over-dependence on external sources for meeting our critical defence needs,” the minister said.
Too much of dependence on foreign suppliers could hurt during times of crisis and hence the Centre was keen on “reducing dependence on foreign suppliers”, Antony said.
He said if Indian industry meets the needs of armed forces, it would get priority over imports. “As far as possible, we want to give preference to indigenous sources, but the equipment has to match up with the best in the business,” he said.
Antony said the present day security environment across the globe was becoming increasingly complex. India’s vast coastline and geographic locations make high demands on its Navy and Coast Guard towards safeguarding maritime and national interests, he said.
“Threat perceptions are increasing and we were living in an unstable neighbourhood,” he said.
The sea lanes of communication are being used for proliferation of weapons and mass destruction, trafficking or arms and other nefarious activities. Last year’s terror attack on Mumbai had raised questions on India’s preparedness. Since then the Indian Navy, Coast Guard had taken various measures.
BEL has completed setting of a prototype off the Gujarat coast to strengthen the Coastal Surveillance Project and must ensure its timely implementation, he said.
Antony said India’s enemies had been procuring the latest equipment and the country too had to move ahead with the times.
'Govt wants to provide level playing field in defence'
Defence Minister A K Antony today said the government wants to provide a level playing field to both the public and private undertakings in defence sector. “We have thrown open the defence sector to the Indian private industry along with PSUs and foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). We want to provide a level playing field to all participants — be they in the public sector, or the private sector,” he said.
He said it was imperative for defence PSUs to try and excel in a competitive environment, now that the defence sector has been thrown open to private industry, along with public sector units and foreign OEMs.
“The latest Defence Procurement Procedure has made defence acquisition process dynamic and competitive. It has also thrown up fresh challenges to defence PSUs,” Antony said.
He was speaking at a function at public sector undertaking BEL to hand over the advanced Naval Gun Fire Control System for the Navy and inaugurate a modern facility of the Digital Flight Control Computer.
“Our government is committed to ensure the well-being of Defence PSUs, but the onus lies on them too to excel in a competitive environment,” he said.
“We want modern, state-of-the-art equipment for our armed forces. However, we cannot afford to import our requirements endlessly,” Antony said.
Ever-growing defence demands would make it difficult for private and PSUs to meet all needs in near future, he said.
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