18 Suggestions for Revamping Indian Defense Indigenization

India is a huge country with financial, and defence power.

But, the adversaries are always testing the patience of this peace-loving democracy namely Pakistan and China.

Pakistan and China have come very close in recent years with China supporting the defense needs of Pakistan.

India faces a two side threat in case of an escalation with either of the two of its border sharing aggressive neighbours.

But, the question pops up, whether India is ready to withstand pressure from two fronts.
India is spending well on defense but after paying elephant price for peanuts, it’s still not sure that is enough.

Indian defence spending needs to be planned and curated.

So, what India needs to become strong military power?

There are some suggestions:

• India needs indigenous weapons.
• India needs smart weapons.
• India needs to focus on quality in defence manufacturing part.
• Strong material research to support design efforts.
• A tough defence acquisition policy enforcing Transfer of Technology (ToT) for high-end defence technology.
• Turbofan engine building technologies.
• Focus on the development of Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) rather than losing precious man-hours of aircraft designers on designing different variants of LCA.
• Incorporating technologies developed for LCA in AMCA for faster development and later on replacing them with the latest indigenous solutions.
• Don’t bang your head again and again with jet engine manufacturing companies that are not interested in ToT, instead focus on a new venture with companies like Rolls Royce which are keen on collaborating.
• Collaborating with Central Asian countries like Ukraine for gaining aviation technology. Even if the technology is old, it gives a good start to reinventing the wheel.
• Investing in tech startups with innovative solutions for defence problems.
• Soldier protection and communication system. The life of each Soldier is of utmost importance. So, we need a complete lightweight suit and gear to save them from bullets and mines, all-weather vision devices, information projecting helmet and encrypted communication system, and a system to differentiate between friend and enemy during a mission.
• Automated army devices with guns and explosive devices with a secure encrypted digital channel for their control by Soldiers from a remote safe place to neutralize enemies.
• A self-destruction mechanism on all devices in case they get in hands of the enemy.
• Lightweight tanks
• Lightweight howitzers
• Laser fences
• Air defence missiles, 3 times in numbers than the adversary flying and missile assets, as dodging targets may need more air defence missiles to zero on the target.