HAL will make India a `defence powerhouse’: Venkaiah Naidu

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu while addressing scientists at Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) on Friday said that indigenous products will play a key role in leapfrogging India as an aerospace and defence powerhouse in the coming years, ANI reported.

He also said that India needs to develop cutting-edge technologies to make India self-reliant and the export hub of modern military hardware.

“The paradox remains that we are still among the largest arms importers in the world,” he said while talking about India’s capability to manufacture state-of-the-art missiles and satellites.

“It is our duty to ensure that our armed forces are fully equipped to handle any challenge and repel any security threat firmly”, he said, while drawing attention to multiple security challenges faced by the country due to a highly complex geopolitical environment, ANI reported.

He also lauded HAL’s contribution to the defence and national securities and also said that designing more potent aircraft’s like LCA Mk2, Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) will enable India to be self-reliant. He also said that he felt proud and reassured of the capabilities of Indian researchers after visiting HAL facilities.

According to Naidu, some countries fund and support terrorism against India, because of which the maintaining security and safety of India’s borders are very important.

As reported by ANI, while referring to several policy initiatives by the Government to promote indigenization and self-reliance in defence manufacturing, Naidu underlined the need to involve private partners in defence projects for fruitful results. “We will have to depend on strategic partnerships, technology sharing and teamwork to ensure that we build competitive products which are comparable with the best from across the globe”, he said.