India needs to focus on dual-use technology where civilian factories shift to defence production during wartime: Defence Production Secretary
New Delhi, May 20
Defence Production Secretary Sanjeev Kumar on Wednesday said India needs to focus on dual-use technologies that can serve both civilian and defence needs, allowing quick shift of production in case of war.
In an interview with ANI, Sanjeev Kumar also said that self-reliance means not just manufacturing, but having the "capability to design and modify weapons the way we want".
Answering a query about the prolonged conflicts in the world, Kumar emphasised the need to have infrastructure to ramp up production when needed.
"Our exports have increased a lot in the last 10 years...export would take care of a certain part of the requirement. But as a structural change, we will also start to think about where the dual-use technology can be more and more used in the defence sector, so that the factories which are otherwise being used for the civilian side during wartime can be converted into certain incremental efforts, resources for the defence purposes," he said.
Kumar said such planning must begin at the design stage itself, including the use of components and systems that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
He noted that building separate defence-only industrial capacity is not practical, and the country must rely on flexible civilian manufacturing systems to meet surge demand during conflict situations.
"A certain action has to be taken right from the design stage. So, what's you can't create a capacity in the defence sector or in the defence industry which will take care of your war requirement, let's say, for n number of days...Because in normal peacetime, what would those industrial complexes do? So, during peacetime, you won't be requiring them, and how would you support them? How would you find out the amount of money which is required, and the amount of manpower required? So, a long-term strategy has to be drawn up, where we have to rely on the civilian sector. Right from the design stage, when we start designing our weapons, we have to find out components, LRUs, and replaceable units, which we say are of dual use," he said.
"As we need more and more dual-use components, we need to find out their uses in our defence platforms right from when we start designing them. So, a spare capacity, which is on the civilian side, can be used. That type of long-term strategy. For civilian purposes or defence. For defence purposes, when it is required. Otherwise, it is being used for civilian purposes. Export would take care of a certain part, but... Even a country like America and Russia, France and China, which are major exporters, cannot really depend on their export market to ramp up their domestic defence facilities during the time of war, as you yourself have just noticed about America," Kumar added.
Answering another query, he said private sector in the country is better equipped and more efficiently organised to build a strong drone manufacturing ecosystem.
He said the government's policy focus is to increase private sector participation in defence production, a direction reflected in initiatives from the Department of Defence (DoD), Department of Defence Production (DDP) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
"One is that ministries and the government's objective is to increase private sector participation, and this is clearly visible in our policies, either coming from DOD, DDP or DRDO. And second is that the private sector, by its nature of organisation, is much quicker, swifter. And now drones, per se, require that type of quicker and swifter response. So structurally also, the private sector is better equipped, better organised to handle the requirement of creating a good drone manufacturing system," he said.
He added that much of India's early drone manufacturing has come from the civilian sector, and these companies are now successfully expanding into defence production as well.
Kumar also said that Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) are not heavily involved in most categories of drones, except for a few working on high-end systems.
"The private sector was there, and they are able to replicate their success in the defence sector also. So, DPSUs by and large are not very much involved in drones, barring one or two DPSUs that are working on high-end drones. But generally in other categories of drones, the private sector is very capable," he said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in March this year that India must work in a mission mode to emerge as a global hub of indigenous drone manufacturing in the next few years.
Over the past two decades, drone technology has emerged as a transformative tool globally and India is rapidly leveraging its potential across different sectors.
The structured and expanding drone ecosystem is augmenting defence capabilities, national security apart from reshaping public service delivery, infrastructure management and agriculture.
The government has played a pivotal role in accelerating the transition through progressive policy reforms, simplified regulations, and robust digital governance mechanisms.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Good vision but the execution is what matters. We've been hearing about self-reliance in defence for decades. Remember when we tried to make our own rifles and got stuck? 😅 The private sector is definitely more efficient than DPSUs for something like drones, but we need to ensure quality control and security clearances don't become a bottleneck. Also, what about the small-scale industries? They need to be included in this dual-use ecosystem too.
Interesting perspective from an Indian official. The dual-use concept is sound - it's how countries like Israel have built their defence ecosystem. But the challenge is that civilian and military specifications are often very different. A civilian factory making auto parts can't just switch to making missile components overnight. There needs to be serious investment in machinery, training, and certifications during peacetime. Otherwise, the "conversion" will be too slow to matter in a real conflict.
Finally, some common sense from the defence establishment! 🎯 For too long we've had this mindset of building everything separately for the military. The private sector, especially in electronics and automotive, has world-class capabilities. Why not leverage them? The drone manufacturing point is spot on - our start-ups are already making excellent civilian drones. With proper incentives and simplified regulations, they can easily scale for defence needs. But please, reduce the red tape first! 🙏
A thoughtful take from the Defence Production Secretary. The key challenge will be IP protection and export controls. If civilian factories are making dual-use components, they'll need to handle sensitive technologies carefully. Also, during peacetime, how do you maintain the "war-ready" capacity without it becoming a financial burden? Maybe the government can offer tax breaks or guaranteed purchases for companies that maintain a certain level of defence-ready production capability. Worth thinking about.
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.