The Hindu Business Line : `Defence policy must stipulate use of indigenous products'

"INDIA lacks a policy that stipulates the Defence Ministry to use indigenous systems/weapons, and perhaps it's time that a serious thought was given to it." Stating this, the Director of the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Mr Prahlada, said several advanced nations have a policy that states that their defence forces will use weapons systems developed by that country.

While the Indian defence forces have the liberty to procure arms and systems from anywhere, it is a fact that in the case of imported systems, the inbuilt weaknesses are known to the seller and in some cases to its friendly countries as well, said Mr Prahlada, who is also the Chairman of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).

In his remarks at a DRDO - Media interactive workshop on disseminating defence news, the DRDL chief cited the example of the Falklands War in which the Argentinians could not use certain weapons effectively, because the seller (France) had joined hands with the UK, the aggressor.

Mr Prahlada said: "I am advocating this idea for a policy because the country has reached a level of technology and research and development (R&D) expertise, maturity in the industry and recognition globally."

The R&D is mature and several foreign countries are approaching to do joint projects. The defence R&D-based product development is also in a mature phase, he said.

The Chief Controller (R&D), Dr W. Selvamurthy, said the DRDO was also contemplating hiring the services of consultants for technology marketing. He said the DRDO with its 52 laboratories across the country was evolving a structured approach to provide information to the media.

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`Defence policy must stipulate use of indigenous products'