It's time to develop our own weapons, says deputy NSA

Hyderabad: Deputy National Security Adviser R.N. Ravi pushed for greater indigenous manufacturing of weapons, saying the strong get surrounded by friends and the weak by enemies.

Mr Ravi, a former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, said that time and again the government had to upgrade weapons of the armed forces through imports. “The time has come to develop weapons and weapon systems within the country.”

The city is hosting a two-day national conference on self-reliance in defence manufacturing. A bunch of think tanks, including scientists from DRDO, private sectors, aeronautical and engineering students and more are here to share their ideas, products and proposals to help safeguard national interest.

Speaking on day one of the conference, Mr Ravi, who led counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations, said, “Indian forces have been upgrading weapons to the next generation through procurement, instead of developing its own. India is among the highest importers of defence products. A sense of awakening that India can manufacture weapons is needed.”

He further said, “There are two approaches of security, to identify the threat and assess it and to assess the intention of the enemy in order to protect our borders. It is time that we built a system on advanced cyber, aviation, robotics and communication, that will help the forces expand beyond the conventional border. We need to detect and destroy the enemy before they attack our borders.”

Defence Research and Development Organisation chairman Mr G. Satheesh Reddy, who was present at the event, said, “Warfare is no longer a border-to- border thing. The enemy has its eyes on human habitation in rural and urban belts. Warfare has become heavily information intensive. If we are losing on intelligence inputs, we are losing the war.”