Rajnath lays thrust on indigenous technological capability to ensure sustained reliability of supplies

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that the country "must have technological and production capability" if the "reliability of supplies" of defence items has to be maintained.

"If we have to maintain sustainability and reliability of supplies of our defence items, then we must have technological and production capability within the country so that whenever we face a long-drawn conflict, our capabilities remain intact," Rajnath Singh said addressing at HQIDS-FICCI seminar on 'Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India' in Gandhinagar.

"Our armed forces should provide more support to the domestic industry. It's a matter of happiness that our forces have given full support in the self-reliance of the defence sector," he added.

Noting that the Indian armed forces are passing through an important phase of transformation, the Minister said that the country's preparedness to deal with the challenges of the changing geo-political scenario has strengthened.

"Our preparedness to deal with a rapidly changing geo-political scenario, and challenges arising out of it, especially neighbourhood threat, has strengthened significantly in recent past," he said.

"Not only the assurance of procurement of defence products but also the objective of developing world-class technologies is very clear in front of us. For this, for the first time, the government has allocated 25 per cent of the Defence R&D budget for industry, start-ups and academia," Singh added.

He said the government fully understands the role of MSMEs and start-ups in the defence sector.

"Hence, to create more opportunities for MSMEs and start-ups, the scope of the Defence Innovation Start-Up Challenges and Technology Development Fund has been further expanded," he said.

Rajnath Singh also inspected arms and ammunition displayed at DefExpo- 2022.

Singh held bilateral meetings with his Mozambique and Madagascar counterpart on the sidelines of DefExpo 2022.

"Glad to interact with the Defence Minister of Mozambique, Mr Cristovao Artur Chume on the sidelines of #DefExpo2022," Singh said in a tweet.

( With inputs from ANI )