Aero India 2023: Indian Air Force seeks out India Inc for self-reliance

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, February 13: With India aiming $5 billion of defence goods exports by 2025, Indian Air Force has invited academia, scientific community and industry to Collaborate and partner in its thrust for self-reliance. Urgency to partner with the larger India Inc on the part of the Indian Air Force has come in the back of an overwhelming presence of the start ups and small and medium enterprises at the five-day Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru.

The Indian Air Force has said that 31 invitations for Expression of Interest have been floated on the eve of Aero India 2023. Globally technology is driving the productions of the next generation of defence goods, which are making the conventional warfare look outdated. The strategic experts have been keeping a watch on the deployment of NATO nations testing their future weapons in the Ukraine War theatre, with lethal outcomes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who inaugurated the Aero India 2023 has termed the invitation of the Air Force “a great opportunity for India’s sharpest minds and dynamic entrepreneurs to be vital partners in the mission towards self-reliance”. “A great opportunity for India’s sharpest minds and dynamic entrepreneurs to be vital partners in the mission towards self-reliance and that too in the defence sector, which has always made our nation proud,” tweeted Modi.

It may be recalled that the DefExpo in Gandhinagar last year had seen a massive participation by scores of startups in diverse areas who showcased their technological prowess and innovation. India has been pushing for indigenization of the defence goods productions, with the government having said recently that $25 billion of procurement would be done from within the country. Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru have emerged as vibrant centres for startups who are testing their capabilities in drones for defence deployments. Drones, as shown by the US and Israel, have become weapons of scales in war, counter-insurgency, border surveillance and several other areas. India hopes to ride on the ecosystem of the scientific community mentoring the startups to produce the nexet generation of defence goods.

Modi has said that India is now exporting defence goods to 75 countries. India had even supplied surface to air missile to Armenia last year. India Inc, including the big industrial houses such as Larsen and Toubro, Tata, Mahindra and Mahinda, Bharat Forge are scaling up their presence in the defence goods productions in the country.