India has released its third list of negative arms in a bid to give a push to domestic defence production. Adding about 101 products into the list, Defence minister Rajnath Singh warned against the import of weapon systems and called for the need to rake up indigenous development of weapon systems, platforms, technologies and ammunition. He stressed that this would ensure uninterupted supplies during wars.
Some of the products that have been included in the list are lightweight tanks, mounted artillery gun systems, naval utility helicopters, drones, medium-range anti-ship and anti radition missiles among others.
Rajnath Singh said that equipments such as tanks, howitzers and helicopters were earlier mechanical in nature and it was not possible to control them. However, the new defence systems are electronic, software intensive and can be controlled or subverted from anywhere.
Warning against security breaches, Singh highlighted US action against China’s Huawei and stressed that the scope of defense is not limited to borders as anyone can break break into a country’s security system now with the help of different communication methods. He added that no matter how strong the system is, if it is linked to another country then there is a possibility of a security breach.
