The Ministry of Defence (MoD) revealed in Parliament, on 22 July, the names of eighteen major defence platforms that can no longer be imported. Instead, they will henceforth be indigenously designed and developed (D&D) by domestic industry.
“In continuous pursuit of achieving self-reliance in defence manufacturing under ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ and in sync with the announcement made in the Union Budget 2022-23 that allocated 25 per cent of the defence R&D budget for industry-led R&D, 18 major platforms have been identified and announced by the MoD for industry led D&D,” stated the MoD in a written response to a Parliamentary question.
Under Make-1 procedure of the Defence Acquisition Procedure of 2021, 14 items are listed as follows:
• Hypersonic glide vehicles
• Anti-jamming systems for varied platforms
• Directed Energy Weapons (>300 KW)
• Light-weight tank
• Self-healing minefields
• Unmanned autonomous AI-based land robot
• 127 mm naval gun
• 127 mm guided projectile
• Autonomous AI-based land robot
• Standoff air-borne jammer
• Lithium-ion/ Lithium-sulphur cells
• Communication systems: AFNET switches, routers, encryptors & VOIP phones
• Electro-optical pod with high-res sensing
• Plug and Play’ housing/ infrastructure for soldiers posted at extreme altitudes
Under Make-2 procedure, only Anti-jamming systems for varied platforms is listed.
Under Special Purpose Vehicle, Long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and Indian multi-role helicopter (IMRH) are listed.
Under iDEX scheme, single item – Low-orbit pseudo-satellites – is listed.
Starting from August 2020, the MoD has issued three lists of defence equipment, the import of which is embargoed. The August 2020 list incrementally bans the import of 101 items, with the embargo growing wider each year.
