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One standout feature in the success of India’s Op Sindoor, starting May 7, is undoubtedly the contribution of indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured defence equipment and platforms. From the offensive weapons such as the Brahmos cruise missile to the air defence platforms like Akash and kamikaze drones to counter-UAS systems, several Indian products proved their mettle in the short, swift and lethal operation Indian armed forces unleashed against Pakistan, demonstrating the success of India’s decade-old relentless focus on self-reliance or atmanirbharta in equipping the armed forces.
Indeed, it was in February 2015, speaking at the 10th edition of the Aero India show in Bengaluru (just eight months after taking over as Prime Minister) Narendra Modi had declared his intention to reduce India’s import dependence. “Nearly 60 per cent of our defence equipment continues to be imported. And we are spending tens of billions of dollars on acquisitions from abroad. Studies show that even a 20-25% reduction in imports could directly create an additional 100,000 to 120,000 highly skilled jobs in India. If we could raise the percentage of domestic procurement from 40 per cent to 70 per cent in the next five years, we would double the output in our defence industry,” he told the assembled defence industry leaders and armed forces officials at that time.
In less than a decade, in keeping with that plan, the Indian defence landscape indeed stands truly transformed, thanks to a more responsive Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Some of the outcomes are self-evident: Raising India’s defence manufacturing output from a measly ₹46,429 crore in 2014-15 to a record high of ₹1,27,434 crore in the past decade and increasing India’s defence exports from a negligible Rs 686 crore in 2013–14 to Rs 23,622 crore in 2024–25, for instance. Significantly, the private sector accounted for the lion’s share of these exports, contributing Rs 15,233 crore in 2024–25, compared to Rs 8,389 crore by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).
Among the platforms and equipment developed and manufactured in India was Akashteer, undoubtedly the star of India’s air defence. On one single night on 9 May, Indian forces neutralised Pakistan’s heaviest missile attack. It was made possible by deploying Akashteer, a product of Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL).
A fully autonomous, AI-driven C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) platform, Akashteer was built to unify radar, sensor, communication, and air defence systems into one seamless combat cloud. But what sets it apart is more than integration—it’s the intelligence that drives it.
Unlike conventional systems reliant on human operators and command chains, Akashteer sees, decides, and acts autonomously. It tracks low-altitude threats, such as drones and micro-UAVs, reroutes friendly assets, and initiates interception without delay—all while preventing fratricide through real-time blue-force tracking.
Over the past decade, India has developed (not all necessarily deployed yet) indigenous systems such as the Dhanush Artillery Gun System, Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS); mobility solutions such as heavy, light specialist and high mobility vehicles and Akash missile system; weapon locating and 3D tactical control radars; Software Defined Radios (SDR) and several naval assets.
Programmes such as iDEX or Innovations for Defence Excellence have opened the hitherto out-of-bounds sector to startups and innovators since 2018. Under iDEX, MSMEs, startups, individual innovators, R&D institutes, and academia have come together on a single platform to develop innovative technologies. Encouraged by the response to the scheme, the MoD has allocated a modest Rs 449.62 crore for the current fiscal year with an expectation that iDEX will contribute substantially to India’s quest for self-reliance in defence in coming years.
Admittedly, there have been some setbacks and delays in prestigious projects, such as the pace of the manufacturing of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, arising out of a delay in the supply of jet engines by the American Company General Electric and structural problems in Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).
The journey towards atmanirbharta is not limited to big platforms. The MoD has taken deliberate steps to deepen the indigenisation effort. For instance, in 2020, it listed 38,000 different items, including spare parts, maintenance kits and smaller items available for domestic manufacturers to supply. By February of this year, over 14,000 items—earlier exclusively imported—have been indigenized. Similarly, since 2021, the Department of Defence Production and the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) has issued five Positive Indigenisation Lists (PILs) for LRUs, assemblies, sub-assemblies, subsystems, spares, components, and high-end materials, which have fixed timelines beyond which procurement will be restricted to domestic manufacturers. Significantly, according to the MoD’s own statistics, of the 5,500 items listed, more than 3,000 have been indigenized as of March this year. They include artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, transport aircraft, light combat helicopters (LCHs), radars, wheeled armoured platforms, rockets, bombs, and armoured bulldozers.
Much remains to be done, of course. The timelines for procurement of larger platforms are still too long. The trial and evolution processes are cumbersome and prolonged, giving an undue advantage to DPSUs with deeper pockets, leaving smaller private sector entities in the lurch. MSMEs have also complained of delayed payments of late. Small firms often struggle to match the economies of scale of DPSUs. Although the MoD has earmarked 75 per cent of the modernisation budget, amounting to Rs 1,11,544 crore, for procurement through domestic industries during the current Financial Year, smaller firms are often found wanting to meet deadlines, if not the desired quality. However, these issues can be overcome with a focused effort and coordination among procurement professionals, users, and manufacturers. Op Sindoor has proven, if proof were indeed needed, that there is no better way to attain strategic autonomy than by winning Indian wars with Indian solutions.
By Nitin A. Gokhale
Author, thought leader and one of South Asia's leading strategic analysts, Nitin A. Gokhale has forty years of rich and varied experience behind him as a conflict reporter, Editor, author and now a media entrepreneur who owns and curates two important digital platforms, BharatShakti.in and StratNewsGlobal.com focusing on national security, strategic affairs and foreign policy matters.
At the beginning of his long and distinguished career, Gokhale has lived and reported from India’s North-east for 23 years, writing and analysing various insurgencies in the region, been on the ground at Kargil in the summer of 1999 during the India-Pakistan war, and also brought live reports from Sri Lanka’s Eelam War IV between 2006-2009.
Author of over a dozen books on wars, insurgencies and conflicts, Gokhale relocated to Delhi in 2006, was Security and Strategic Affairs Editor at NDTV, a leading Indian broadcaster for nine years, before launching in 2015 his own digital properties.
An alumni of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Hawaii, Gokhale now writes, lectures and analyses security and strategic matters in Indo-Pacific and travels regularly to US, Europe, South and South-East Asia to speak at various international seminars and conferences.
Gokhale also teaches at India’s Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), the three war colleges, India's National Defence College, College of Defence Management and the intelligence schools of both the R&AW and Intelligence Bureau.
He tweets at @nitingokhale
