General Deepak Kapoor calls for tie ups with global arms majors

New Delhi, Feb 23 (ANI): Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor has said that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) can collaborate with global arms majors to boost indigenous defence industry.

"DRDO can continue to undertake major projects and collaborate with global majors in this field without compromising on security and vital national interest. Global collaboration in building our capability and state-of-art technologies must be aimed towards achieving self-reliance in defence production," said Kapoor, while speaking at the inaugural function of the 34th three-day DRDO Directors' Conference in New Delhi.

He also cautioned that though collaboration allows access to greater resources and expertise, the aspect of Information Security has to be taken care of.

He said that there is a need to increase the country's R and D investment, which is today only 0.9 per cent of our GDP.

General Kapoor also mentioned that world over private sector has proved to be reliable partner in the area of defence production. Hence, the private sector R and D of our country should be now leveraged for defence applications through the changes brought about in Defence Procurement Procedures.

Defence Minister A K Antony lauded the DRDO for pioneering indigenous defence industry despite technology denial regime.

"DRDO has also played a key role in the launch of INS Arihant, India's first nuclear powered submarine. The successful test of the Interceptor missile in endo and exo atmospheric roles has enhanced India's capability in Ballistic Missile Defence Capability. The development of indigenous surface-to-air missile system Akash and its offshoots of Weapon Locating Radar and 3D surveillance radar will boost our defence preparedness," said Antony.

Last week, Antony had said that India is committed to modernisation of armed forces and country's quest for self-reliance in defence underlines the importance of collaboration of various sectors.

India is palnning to spend more than 50 billion dollars over the next five years to modernise its weapon systems, after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks revealed glaring loopholes in the security system. (ANI)