Page 12 - NIS English 16-31 Aug 2022

Nation Swavalamban Seminar

GOAL OF SELF-RELIANCE

IN THE INDIAN ARMIES

At the time of independence, the country had 18 ordnance factories that produced a
variety of military equipment, including artillery guns. During World War II, India was a
major supplier of defence equipment. Our howitzers, machine guns made at the Ishapore
Rifle Factory, were considered the best at that time. We failed to preserve this quality as
times changed, and India was recognised as the largest buyer in the defence sector. But,

contrary to popular belief, India is transitioning from a buyer to an exporter, owing to new
steps taken toward self-reliance in the field of defence production, which Prime Minister
Narendra Modi mentioned on July 18 at the NIIO seminar "Swavalamban"...

et us look at two incidents to better
understand India's self-reliance in the
Lfield of defence production. One of these INDIA'S DEFENCE EXPORTS
dates back to the 1990s, when India needed `12,815
weapons-detection radars and efforts were CRORE
made to get them from the United States to 2021-22
Israel. In contrast, India sold such radars
to Armenia in 2020 for $4 crore. According 2019-20
to a report, India was among the top 25 2020-21
global arms exporters for the first time in
2020.Weapons are being supplied from our `9,116
ordnance factories to countries like Israel, CRORE `8,435
Sweden, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), CRORE
Brazil, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, etc. Ordnance
factories earlier did not export weapons but
were limited to supplies to the military and
security forces. But from 2015-16 onwards,
they were allowed to export.
After the Philippines, India is now going to
sell an anti-ship variant of the BrahMos missile
to Indonesia soon. Negotiations for this deal
are in the final stages. However, self-reliance
in the defence sector entails not only making
a name for ourselves as an arms exporter, but
also producing indigenous and far superior
equipment for our armies. On July 18, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi presented the same

10 New India Samachar August 16-31, 2022