There is no wisdom in developing all technologies indigenously and India should prioritise what is strategically important and focus on it was the general consensus of defence and industry experts during a virtual discussion at Military Literature Festival on Saturday.
Moderated by MV Kotwal, member of L&T board, the panel comprised MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Brig Suresh Gangadharan, Harpal Singh from the corporate sector and journalists Rahul Bedi and Vishnu Som.
Chandrasekhar said that we cannot let the current structure of lab-led development continue and it has to be a much more vibrant ecosystem of ideas.
Brig Gangadharan advocated standardisation and scalability of defence inventory and called for seamless integration of military, R&D, academia, and industry.
Harpal Singh put forth the citizen’s perspective on national security while Rahul Bedi opined that multiplicity of policies and agencies in defence manufacture leads to a lot of confusion.