‘India Has Products And Technology, All We Need Now Is A Little Hard Sell’

NEW DELHI: India has exported a little over $1 billion in arms and equipment over the last seven years and the government is getting ambitious: the target the prime minister has talked about for a while is $5 billion by 2025. It’s a daunting figure but the deal with the Philippines, which has agreed to buy the Brahmos missile for coastal defence, has come as a shot in the arm.

In this conversation on The Gist, Lt. Gen. Vinod Khandare, former military adviser in the National Security Council Secretariat, argues that the five billion dollar figure would require the government, its defence production agencies, the DRDO and the private sector to work together with a sense of purpose.

He acknowledges many challenges from getting government procedures and processes to work efficiently to research agencies shrinking design and development timelines. Embassies must also galvanise their efforts to reach out to host governments and armed forces.

Tune in for more in this chat with Gen. Vinod Khandare, former military adviser in the National Security Council Secretariat.