In capital purchases is a slew of wide-ranging military equipment. These encompass state of the art missiles, fighters, bombers, carriers, howitzers, armored fighting vehicles, maritime patrol aircraft, reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters, UAVs, inceptor craft, hovercraft, patrol boats for coast guard, to space research, homeland security platforms, and much more. There is a need to replace the obsolete and augment the capabilities with modern systems.
With India procuring 70 per cent of its defence needs from abroad and Indian companies supplying only around 25 percent of components and subassemblies to state-owned companies, often below par, India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) is justified in pushing for a target of 70 per cent indigenous production.
That signposts a massive range of offset possibilities for foreign based manufacturers
Attention to quality offers the foreign manufacturers a major incentive to provide the wherewithal necessary for setting up high grade units.
It is credible to assume that the government, MoD, armed forces, and public and private aerospace companies want to move from a buyer-seller relationship to a relationship covering the co-production and a thriving indigenous aerospace industry.
