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The Indian Army has said it is close to achieving full self-reliance in ammunition, with more than 90 per cent of its ammunition and precision-munition variants now being sourced domestically. The move, senior officials said, marks a major shift away from reliance on legacy imports and is central to building endurance for prolonged conflict scenarios.
The Army currently uses nearly 200 types of ammunition across its platforms.
According to officials, systematic reforms over the past four to five years, combined with sustained engagement with the defence industry, have enabled the rapid indigenisation of most of these categories.
“The remaining ammunition types are under active development through parallel efforts involving research agencies, state-owned manufacturers and private industry,” an Army official said.
As part of this push, procurement procedures have been redesigned to promote competition and diversify supply sources. Indigenous manufacturing orders worth nearly Rs 26,000 crore have been placed over the past three years, while a separate order basket of around Rs 16,000 crore has been set aside under the government’s Make in India framework. Many ammunition categories are now being supplied by multiple domestic vendors, improving resilience and reducing the risk of supply disruption.
Officials said the shift reflects the Army’s assessment of a changing security environment marked by uncertainty, rapid technological change, and the possibility of prolonged crises. In such scenarios, they noted, military capability depends not only on modern weapon systems but also on the ability to sustain operations through assured stocks of ammunition, spares and logistics support.
For decades, India’s ammunition ecosystem relied on limited domestic production supplemented by imports, exposing the supply chain to global shocks. Recent international conflicts, officials said, have underscored the strategic advantage of countries that can maintain ammunition supplies independently.
The Army’s current efforts align with the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative and focus on building a long-term, self-sustaining ammunition ecosystem. Priority areas in the next phase include strengthening domestic raw-material supply chains, upgrading production infrastructure, accelerating technology transfer and enforcing stringent quality standards.
By increasingly anchoring its ammunition preparedness in Indian industry, the Army hopes to build greater staying power for prolonged operations, reinforcing both operational readiness and national resilience.
Team BharatShakti
