India’s armed forces cannot be forced to buy more domestically produced military equipment if it does not meet their needs, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Ms. Sitharaman said while she would prefer the Navy, Army, and Indian Air Force to procure as many indigenous products as possible, this cannot be done if goods do not match specifications.
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“I want to make sure that our production capabilities are such that they can meet international standards and be export worthy… but on the other side of the line, the Army, Navy or Air Force, make their decisions on what they want, what combination of equipment they want and in that combination, if an Indian produce type fits in, then they take it,” she said at the Defence Expo 2018.
“But I can’t for a moment imagine that I will prevail upon them that they necessarily buy what is Indian, much against certain other requirements which they may want to look at,” the Defence Minister added.
Ms. Sitharaman said ultimately it was the final call of the three forces on the combination of equipment that they need, for them to be able to perform at their best and be prepared at all times. “It is their final call that I have to respect,” she said.
Production policy soon
The government will finalise the new Defence Production Policy soon and a consultation process is currently under way, Ajay Kumar, Secretary, Defence Production, said.
“The draft has been released for public consultation. We have received over 100 comments from various stakeholders from industry, professional groups, academia and individuals and we are in the process of examining those comments,” Mr. Kumar said. “Based on that, and consultation with other ministries, the policy will be placed with the government for approval and we hope to see the final policy very soon,” he added.
Defence Secretary, Sanjay Mitra, said the Request For Information (RFI) for procuring 110 fighter aircraft was not a return of the scrapped Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) project. “I don’t think this is a re-run. This is a fresh RFI,” he said. The Union government had scrapped the MMRCA tender after ordering 36 Rafale fighters from France in flyaway condition.
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