Aatmanirbharta cannot be at the cost of nation’s defence: IAF vice chief

It should be noted that the government has been focussing on self-reliance in the defence sector and on several occasions the Services chiefs have mentioned that if you want to win the wars of future the weapons and equipment should be indigenous.

Anish Kumar

First Published Jul 19, 2024, 3:32 PM IST | Last Updated Jul 19, 2024, 6:01 PM IST

New Delhi: Emphasising on the “Aatmanirbharta” in the defence sector, Indian Air Force (IAF) vice chief Air Marshal AP Singh on Friday cautioned that it cannot be at the cost of nation’s defence and called everyone, right from DRDO to DPSU to the private industry to ensure the kind of systems and weapons that the forces required in today’s world.

Speaking at an event organised by the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS) in Delhi, Air Marshal AP Singh said that the defence of the country comes first and foremost.

“Aatmaribharta is what we are riding on...But this aatmaribharta cannot be at the cost of the nation's defence. The nation's defence comes first and foremost and if the Indian Air Force or Indian forces have to ride on this aatmaribharta, it is only possible if everyone - from DRDO, to DPSU, to the private industry, holds the hand and takes us to that path and don't let us deviate from that path,” the IAF vice chief said.

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“Because when it comes to national defence, there will be compulsions to deviate from their path in case we do not get the things that we need or the kind of system and weaponry that is required to survive in today's world,” Air Marshal Singh said.

He further mentioned that defending the country is not a job of men in uniforms and said: "So, my humble request to each one of us here is that let's put a system in place where we are helping each other out in achieving the overall goal, which is our goal. It is not anybody else's...If we have to defend the nation, it is everybody's job. It is not just the job of a person in uniform.”

He also asserted that the weapons that the forces are talking about should be developed and manufactured in the country.

Disruption in the supply chain erupted in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war and to reduce dependency on imports among the reasons for promoting self-reliance in the defence sector.
"We all understand that we, as a nation, face a large number of challenges today. It is from conventional challenges, which are also increasingly becoming more and more aggressive and also unorthodox application of force in the air domain using the sub-conventional weapons that we spoke about," the vice chief added.

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Speaking about the changed geo-political scenario, Air Marshal AP Singh said that the biggest lesson that the forces have learnt from today's geopolitics is to be self-reliant.

"Like they say, there is no permanent enemy or permanent friend. They all have permanent interests. So, Aatmanirbharta and Aatmanirbhar Bharat which we have been talking about are not just buzzwords. It is something that we need to put our heart and soul into and make sure that these technologies that we are talking about, the weapons that we are talking about of the future, are all developed and manufactured in India so that we are not relying on an outside agency who could change its alliance, who could stop the flow of weapons to our country and put us on the mat when the time comes," he said.

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