“The Russia-Ukraine conflict has taught us valuable lessons, such as the importance of being self-sufficient and avoiding reliance on global supply networks to the greatest extent possible”

Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande said on Wednesday that India is capable of winning future battles using indigenously made weaponry and military equipment.

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has highlighted the importance of ensuring self-reliance in the defence sector and the Defence Expo 2022 will assist India in improving the domestic production of military hardware, General Manoj Pande said.

The Defence Expo 2022 was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on Wednesday.

He said, "We can completely and unequivocally win future wars with indigenous weapon systems. What has been produced domestically is on par with what global suppliers offer. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has taught us valuable lessons, such as the importance of being self-sufficient and avoiding reliance on global supply networks to the greatest extent possible.”

"All of our newly designed technology has performed well in our forward sectors and the benefit of being indigenous is that sustenance becomes easier," he added.

During the opening ceremony of Defence Expo 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a list of 101 defence items that will be produced indigenously as part of the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative. 

These products, which are on the fourth Positive Indigenisation List, will be obtained from indigenous sources in accordance with the provisions of the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.

"We are looking at 2-3 key projects for our Make-I project, including light tanks, future-ready assault vehicles and future infantry combat vehicles, the government supports largely these projects,” General Manoj Pande said.

"In the Make-II category, we have 43 projects in which almost 187 industries are collaborating. The total fund of Rs 27,000 crore will mainly be used to improve our intelligence and surveillance capabilities and we are also looking into artificial intelligence projects,” the Army chief added.