India must boost production capacity for military-grade drones: Defence Secretary

New Delhi, June 20: Highlighting the role of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in modern warfare, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has said that India must boost its production capacity for military-grade drones. He noted that the Centre wants to cut the defence procurement cycle to a maximum of two years and the government will come up with a new Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP 2025) in six months.

"I would say that India has a significant manufacturing ecosystem for drones, but a lot of it is really for civilian drones. Military-grade drones, not so much. There are, I would say, three to four, five manufacturers who have some capacity in that area. It's something we'll have to build up quickly," Singh told ANI in an interview.

"And to the extent that, like all military purchases, it's a monopsony. The government is the only buyer. And I guess the government will have to use its buying power to provide the resources and give visibility in terms of orders to that sort of small ecosystem, which hopefully will gradually become a large ecosystem of military-grade drone manufacturers," he added.

He said that military-grade drone production in the country needs some transfer of technology, as a lot of the technology may not be available domestically.

"I would say that we are looking at least three to four manufacturers who are coming up with this type of capacity in terms of military grade drones. We will encourage them through orders and through tenders so that they can start investing in this area even more, including tying up with a lot of the technologies from outside," he said.

"The volume that we can generate in terms of the size of the orders that can be bigger than the combined turnover of all the other civilian drone manufacturers in the country. That type of ensuring that they have a full order book if they make investments for inter-military grade drones, we will try to ensure by speeding up procurement and by giving them visibility in terms of orders," he added.

The Defence Secretary said he would like to see a situation where the maximum time taken for any procurement, even the most complex ones, should not exceed about two years.

"Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 is a very bulky book. It's a bible for the defence industry. We need to make it simpler. A lot of redundant steps can be avoided. A lot of things can be done concurrently rather than sequentially. And a lot of simplification in terms of the kind of companies that can bid, where we've put in some unnecessary conditionalities, all those have to be removed," he said.

"So, for that, we have a committee now working. The target date is six months from today. So you'll have a new DAP. It will be DAP-25 rather than DAP-20," he added.

Reader Comments

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Arjun M.

Finally some forward thinking in defence procurement! 🚀 We can't keep depending on imports when we have the talent to make our own military drones. The 2-year procurement cycle target is ambitious but necessary given our security challenges.

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Priya K.

While boosting drone capacity is important, I hope the government ensures proper oversight. Military tech in wrong hands can be dangerous. Also, hope this creates quality jobs for Indian engineers rather than just importing foreign tech.

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Rahul S.

Good move but execution is key. Our defence PSUs have a history of delays. Private sector participation with proper checks is the way forward. Also, we must develop indigenous tech - can't always rely on foreign ToT (transfer of technology).

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Sunita P.

This is the right time to invest in drone technology. With tensions at our borders, we need every advantage. Hope the new DAP 2025 simplifies processes - our soldiers deserve the best equipment without bureaucratic delays. Jai Hind!

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Vikram D.

The focus on military drones is good, but let's not forget cyber warfare capabilities too. Modern conflicts are fought on multiple fronts. Hope the defence budget is allocated wisely across all critical technologies.

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Neha T.

As someone working in tech, I'm excited about this! 🇮🇳 But the government must ensure fair competition - not just favor big corporates. MSMEs and startups have great potential if given proper support and timely payments.

We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.