India to stop import of 101 key military items

SELF-RELIANCE Five-year embargo on key purchases including missiles, aircraft, UAVS

NEW DELHI: India announced on Sunday that it will ban the import of 101 types of weapons and ammunition for the next five years — from artillery guns to light military transport aircraft and conventional submarines to long-range land attack cruise missiles — in a significant step on the long road towards achieving self-reliance in the defence sector.

The detailed list of equipment published by the defence ministry has spelled out that the import embargo will kick in between December 2020 and December 2025 for different categories of military hardware.

The government has also created a separate budget for the purchase of locally produced military hardware.

“Our aim is to apprise the Indian defence industry about the anticipated requirements of the armed forces so that they are better prepared to realise the goal of indigenisation,” said defence minister Rajnath Singh, who made the announcement on Twitter. Later in the day, the defence minister said at an online event that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will present a new outline for a self-reliant India in his address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15. He also referred to his announcement on defence import ban and said the Modi government was taking “big and tough” decisions for a self-reliant India. The coronavirus pandemic has shown that a country may not be able to effectively protect its sovereignty if it is not self-reliant,

he said, adding: “Our government will not allow any harm to India’s self respect and sovereignty at any cost.”

The move to ban the import of the 101 items is expected to give a push to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ (Self-reliant India Movement). In May, the government announced that it would notify a list of weapons and equipment that cannot be imported.

The military hardware on the negative import list includes assault rifles, sniper rifles, shortrange surface-to-air missiles, beyond visual range air-to-air missiles, corvettes, missile destroyers, light combat helicopter,

ship-borne cruise missiles, light combat aircraft, a variety of radars and different types of ammunition.

The ministry will take necessary steps to ensure that the timelines for the production of the equipment on the negative import list are met, Singh said. The list includes wheeled armoured fighting vehicles (AFVS), with an embargo date of December 2021. The army is expected to order 200 AFVS at a cost of more than ~5,000 crore, he said. The list of weapons banned for import will be reviewed every year. “More such equipment for import embargo would be identified progressively by the Department

of Military Affairs in (DMA) in consultation with all stakeholders. A due note of this will also be made in the Defence Acquisition Procedure to ensure that no item in the negative list is processed for import in the future,” the minister said.

This implies India will have to compulsorily develop technology for defence systems and platforms figuring on the negative import list, experts said. One of the key responsibilities assigned by the government to the DMA, headed by chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat, is to promote the use of indigenous military equipment.