Defence News
Indigenisation will help forces, says Air Marshal
With indigenisation of the defence industry, a large part of government’s revenue can be saved and equipment can be procured in lesser time, said Air Marshal Sanjay Sharma, Ati Vishist Sewa Medal (AVSM), AOC Maintenance, here on Monday.
“We have started the process of indigenisation with nuts, bolts and recently with tyres, tubes and batteries.
Now, we are on the path to indigenise sensors,” he said at a seminar on “Indigenisation of the Indian Air Force aviation requirements”, organised by FKCCI and PHD Chamber.
More than 47,000 lines of spares for maintenance of IAF aircraft have been indigenised and over 1,700 items have been identified for indigenisation in the coming years with 70 to be included this year itself.
HAL Chairman Suvarna Raju said that indigenisation will not only give a boost to employment, but will also be good for geo-strategic stability.
“HAL will support Indian industries by transferring technologies it has developed. There is enough space for the industry to coexist with HAL,” he said, and encouraged private industries to come forward.
In 2016, for the first time the indigenously built Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas, was flown on Republic day.
Stating that Bengaluru will soon become defence capital, Mr K. Ravi, president, Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industries, said that Karnataka is the only state with an aviation policy and has the ecosystem to integrate the industry into a holistic might.
It was emphasised at the seminar that medium and small-scale industries (MSMEs) are the pillars of support to indigenous development of equipment to the armed forces and bureaucratic procedures should not become a hindrance.
