Defence equipment exports will increase in the next five years, DRDO chief

New Delhi: G. Sathish Reddy, the chief of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), expressed confidence that there will be a significant rise in the export of defence equipment, over the next five years. The DRDO Chief spoke at a webinar, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The proportion of indigenously made weapons and defence equipment will have increased. At the same time, there will be a significant increase, even in exports. The government and the DRDO have taken important steps in this direction, which will provide an impetus to the export of weapons and defence equipment.

Cooperation is taken from the private sector, in all the DRDO projects on the development and manufacturing fronts. G. Sathish Reddy clarified that the decision to collaborate with the private sector companies, even in a sensitive area like missile development, has been taken as well. A few day ago, the government decided to export Aakash missiles. It was reported that a list of probable buyer countries also had been prepared. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said that export of this surface-to-air missile becomes an important stage for the Indian defence industry. India has set a target of exports of defence equipment worth $5 billion, over the next five years. The Defence Minister had clarified that efforts will be made to change the Indian identity as the largest importer of weapons and defence systems, to exporter of defence systems and weapons.

The DRDO Chief, clarified the objective set in this regard while speaking at the CII webinar. The DRDO Chief said that India cannot become ‘Atmanirbhar’, unless design, development and manufacture of defence equipment is done indigenously.