— Photo: Bhagya Prakash K

MIG MAGIC: A MiG-35 fighter jet, which was unveiled to the world by Russian Aircraft Corporation-MiG, shows its prowess at the Aero India show in Bangalore on Wednesday. Russia is in the race to sell India 126 multi-role combat aircraft.

BANGALORE: Ruling out a review of the armed forces' modernisation plan despite peace on the borders, Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Wednesday asked Indian industry to seize the $10 billion (Rs. 50,000 crore) opportunity in weapon systems and platforms for the next five years.

"Modernisation of the armed forces is one of the most important agendas of the Government. At the moment, things are apparently peaceful. The Government as part of its conscious policy is trying to improve relations with all neighbours including China and Pakistan. Some improvement is there but we can't be complacent. Eternal vigil is required," he said at a news conference shortly after inaugurating the Aero India `07 exposition here.

Defending the 11th Five Year procurement plan (2007-12), Mr. Anthony said: "We can prevent war by strong deterrence. Therefore, we have to modernise our armed forces." In the Government's policy framework for defence purchases, industry could avail of the opportunities because in the long run "a country like India cannot depend on foreign suppliers. In future, we don't want to continue as buyers only. We want to establish a new relationship. We must be involved in transfer of technology or in design, development and co-production of military equipment." With a friendly policy framework in place, the industry must "think global, act local."

In his inaugural speech, Mr. Antony listed the policy initiatives taken in recent months and called upon industry to keep a close relationship with the armed forces and the Defence Research and Development Orgnaisation (DRDO).

Select private companies, to be called "Raksha Udyog Ratnas," will get government support to participate in developing major defence platforms as well as undertake complex system integration tasks.

A major opportunity for industry would be from the "off-set" clause under which all imported equipment worth over Rs. 300 crore must have 30 per cent Indian content.

"The clause is expected to provide a boost to the defence industry, not only in defence production, but also in R&D, designing, quality assurance, software and other related activities. We believe the off-set clause would have a favourable impact and lead to the all-round growth of our defence industry," said the Minister. To ensure the clause did not inconvenience private entrepreneurs, a single window mechanism had been set up to assist potential vendors in identifying products and projects.

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