(a) whether there is a need to speed up the process of procurement of state-of-the-art military weapons for the army;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard so far; and
(c) further efforts being made for procurement of the state-of-the-art weapons?
MINISTER OF STATE (SHRI SHRIPAD NAIK)
IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
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(a) to (c): The Government attaches high priority to ensuring that the Armed Forces are adequately equipped and operationally prepared to deal with the entire spectrum of security challenges facing the country. In this context, there is a constant endeavour to modernize the Armed Forces through acquisition of contemporary systems, development of new technologies and upgradation of conventional equipment.
While taking measures to expedite procurement of required equipment, Government is also committed to the promotion of indigenization and self-reliance in the defence sector, which is a focus area under the ‘Make in India’ initiative. A number of measures, including priority and preference to procurement from Indian vendors; liberalization of the licensing regime and enabling of access to modern and state-of-the-art technology to Indian industry by raising the cap of FDI in the defence sector have been taken to harness the potential in the public and private sector to meet defence requirements.
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