We have a hostile neighbour, defence preparedness must be optimal: Jaitley

Jaitley wondered why the best minds produced here should not make the country self-reliant in defence equipment.

Challakere (Karnataka), May 28: In view of the security threat India faces in the region, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday called for optimal defence preparedness to safeguard the country.

"Our defence preparedness should always be at optimal level to safeguard the country, which is geographically located in a region that is not free from trouble," said Jaitley unveiling the India's first Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) for testing drones and other weapons here.

Noting that India had a hostile neighbour perpetuating a security threat for nearly seven decades, he called upon for greater indigenisation of defence equipment to ensure that preparedness remained at the highest level.

"To maintain the defence preparedness at the top level, we should have large facilities to manufacture more equipment within the country than import," he said.

Admitting that India continued to spend more on importing arms, Jaitley wondered why the best minds produced here should not make the country self-reliant in defence equipment when their technology could dominate the world over.

"A large part of the defence budget allocation is spent on procuring arms from outside than making them in the country where the best minds dominate the technology elsewhere in the world," he said.

"As the ATR and allied facilities help in many areas of national security, the government has been in favour of a policy for creating optimal facilities within the country," he reiterated.

IANS