New Delhi:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today pushed for domestic production of defence equipment, saying it is not a long-term solution. Speaking at the National Quality Conclave in Delhi on a day Pakistan attempted to escalate the ongoing tension by targeting military installations in the northern and western parts of the country and got a rebuff from the armed forces, Mr Singh said “Operation Sindoor” was a success because of the quality of the arms used.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, he had stressed on “defence sovereignty”, Mr Singh said, which means being self-reliant in terms of defence production.
“If we buy defence equipment from other countries, it means we are outsourcing it and leaving our security in the hands of someone else. This cannot be a long-term solution,” he said, underscoring that the government has paid emphasis on defence production in terms of both quality and quantity.
The country already has factories for defence production, defence PSUs. The government is focusing on both quality and quantity and to this end has tried corporatisation of ordnance factories, he said.
“In absence of a proper brand, a consumer gets confused. So I have this big appeal to you today — that we build a strong, dependable world leading state-of-the art Brand India for the defence industry. So that when countries think get confused in the defence market and start having doubts, they choose brand India. Whenever in doubt, go for India, this should be our recipe,” he said.
Mr Singh’s comments came amid the continuing Operation Sindoor, the strikes on terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. A day later, Pakistan tried to target military installations in 15 cities, including Srinagar, Pathankot, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh.
The Indian armed forces responded by targeting and neutralising Pakistani Air Defence Radars and systems in several locations, including Lahore.