India MALE drones: India’s Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh spoke at Network18’s Reforms Reloaded programme in Delhi and shared many plans about the future of India’s defence. He said that the government is ready to come out with a very big Request for Proposal (RFP) worth Rs 30,000 crore. This will be for Medium Altitude Long Endurance drones, also called MALE drones. He clearly said, “We are going to release an RFP of Rs 30,000 crore of Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) category drones.”
Rajesh Kumar explained how India has learnt from wars that are happening in the world right now. He said that in these wars the number of missiles used is very large. Rajesh Kumar reminded that India has always used its missiles in a careful and limited way, but he warned that in future this may not always be possible.
he said, “In recent wars, the number of missiles being fired are huge. India followed a different path and we used them in a calibrated way. But every time duration can’t be curtailed. So we need a diversified large industrial base.”
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During the session called “Dialogue on Defence: An Agenda for Self Reliance,” he spoke with Network18’s Parikshit Luthra. He promised that the government will keep focusing on self-reliance in defence manufacturing. He said very clearly, “We will have $25-30 billion of capex every year in defence over the next decade. Our current plans are that at least 75% of capex would be spent within country” reported Money Control.
Focus on Indigenisation and Technology
The Defence Secretary made it clear that India will not step back from its indigenisation goals. He said, “We will double down on our indigenisation efforts and we won’t hopefully go below that 75% mark.” He added that whenever India has good technology readiness, the country will aim for “entirely indigenous procurement.”
Rajesh Kumar explained that India plans to put money into standout vehicles, different kinds of drones, underwater drones, satellite imagery, and precision munitions. He openly said, “We will invest in different types of standout vehicles, drones, UAVs, underwater drones, satellite imagery, precision munitions, where India doesn’t have technology.”
At the same time, he also admitted that production in state-owned defence companies has limits. He pointed out that “Missiles are made by BDL, munitions are made by MIL, but their capacity is limited. Private sector has been unable to invest in these, so we are trying to move away from order reservations.”
Reforms, Budget and Future Plans
Talking about reforms in defence procurement, Singh explained that the government wants to move away from nomination-based contracts. Instead, he said they will prefer competition and open bidding.
His words were, “Idea is to go from nomination based contracts to open bidding and price discovery. We are trying to create a section for start-ups, we will give assurances to start-ups for five years in procurement.” Rajesh Kumar added that by December, the capital expenditure paperwork will become “much more simple and friendly to private sector and start-ups.”
He proudly noted that the defence budget is being used fully. He explained that last year the entire budget got used, and this year the same will happen. In fact, he said, “Last year, we exhausted our budget. We will be able to exhaust this year’s budget this year as well and be able to do Rs 2-3 lakh crore of projects.” He also mentioned that a “10 percent increase is adequate to meet requirements” while the medium-term aim is “17-18 percent increase over the next five years.”
On the issue of air power, Singh said that India may not get fifth generation aircraft very soon but it can still balance things out. Rajesh Kumar said, “If we don’t have 5th gen aircraft immediately, we can offset advantage by having enough number of 4 and 4.5 gen fighters and equipping them with weapons.”
He again pointed at the limits in production, repeating that missiles are made by BDL and munitions by MIL but the capacity is just not enough. He stressed that is why private industry has to be given more space.
About partnerships with other countries, Singh was very clear that India will only choose based on its needs. He said, “Whichever country is ready to share critical technology we can go with those countries. We will go by our service requirements. We will have enough opportunities for both the US and Russia to participate.”
He also revealed that many large deals are coming soon. He said, “We are about to sign contracts worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore and we can do another Rs 75,000 crore worth of contracts. Last year we did Rs 2.09 lakh crore, we will do at least that much if not more.”
