Moving towards Aatmanirbharta

Life cycle cost of weapons systems must be considered

At the inauguration of the Aero India 2023 exposition in Bengaluru on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi endorsed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s repeated calls for Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) — an India that meets its own requirements of arms and defence equipment without relying on the “original equipment manufacturers” (OEMs) that dominate the global military landscape. In a series of policy assertions over the last eight years, the Modi government has set out ambitious targets that would lead to self-sufficiency and to transforming India into one of the world’s largest defence-manufacturing countries. The targets include expanding annual defence production to