Large defence manufacturing base needed: Antony

Defence Minister A K Antony today called upon the private and public sector to join hands to help India achieve self-reliance in defence production, asking them to set up a large, modern manufacturing base in the country.

He also asked the industry to have more confidence in the indigenous technology and the DRDO to reduce the long gestation period of its projects and cut down on time and cost overruns.

"The need of the hour is for all stakeholders in the defence sector -- both in the public and private domain, to come together to achieve self-reliance in critical defence technologies," Antony said at the DRDO Directors' Conference here.

"The industry must show more confidence in the capacity of indigenous technology. At the same time, the public and private sector need to come up with modern facilities with a large manufacturing base," he said.

Asking DRDO to strengthen its core competence and create newer ones, Antony said the premier defence R&D organisation also needed to "reduce the long gestation periods and cut down time and cost overruns".

"It is also high time that DRDO shed its reticence in working in tandem with the private industry. We need the maximum possible synergy between various production agencies," he said.