Hyderabad: India aims to achieve 75 percent indigenisation in defence production between 2020 and 2025, said Avinash Chander, scientific advisor to the defence minister.
He told reporters here Saturday that several steps are being taken to reduce the dependence on imports and achieve the self-reliance.
He did not agree with the perception that the current level of indigenisation is 30 percent.
“An analysis of approvals given by the government during last seven years show that more 50 percent procurement was indigenous. Our self-reliance index is definitely more than 50 percent,” he said.
Avinash, who is also the director general of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said they identified some key areas to achieve higher self-reliance.
He said the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) alone would contribute 40,000 crore in the procurement in next eight years.
The DRDO is working on how to enhance the rate of production of LCA to 16 per year as the Indian Air Force is keen to speed up the acquisition process.
The country also expects to have in 10 years its own platform for medium combat aircraft. The DRDO is going a big way in indigenisation of unmanned systems.
It has also taken initiatives for self-reliance in artillery ammunition, tank ammunition, grenades and other areas. Artillery ammunition alone is expected to generate a volume of Rs.30,000 crore in five to six years.
“We are going to indigenise wide area of ammunition. We are working out a strategy to make it totally import-free area,” he said.
Radars and sensors is another areas where the DRDO is working to achieve self-reliance. He pointed out that the country has now stopped importing night vision systems.
The DRDO has also launched missile autonomy mission and its goal is to take the country to a stage in 2020-2015 where there will be no need to import any missile.