NEW DELHI: DRDO
plans to make the country "missile import free" by 2022, the defence
research agency has told the Prime Minister's Office.
"Our target is to make India
missile-import free by the year 2022. This means that we need not import any
missile in terms of air-to-ground, surface-to-air or the air-to-air
missiles," DRDO chief Avinash Chander told PTI.
"We have shared our vision with
the Prime Minister's Office and the government at the top-level," he said.
The DRDO chief said over the years,
the country has already developed an expertise in the field of strategic
missiles such as the Agni and Prithvi missiles which have now been inducted
into the armed forces.
After the imposition of ban on Indian
military research establishments, India attained the know-how and developed
strategic missile systems indigenously with very little or negligible equipment
being imported from outside the country for them.
He said a number of missile
development programmes were on where DRDO was working to make missiles to
replace the imported systems. The systems being developed include the
air-to-air Astra missile, 1,500km-range Nirbhay sub-sonic
cruise missile and the BMP-mounted Nag anti-tank guided missile system.
To a query on the export prospects
of indigenous systems, Chander said the government has to evolve a policy in
this regard.
He said DRDO was of the view that
private sector firms should be given the responsibility of developing equipment
based on the technology provided by it and also market it abroad.
DRDO has plans to export its
fully-developed equipment such as the Pragati missile, which was showcased
recently in foreign military exhibitions in countries such as South Korea, the Akash missile system and the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile
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