Inaugurating the Seminar on “Modernisation and Indigenisation Plans of the Indian Air Force”, organized by the Indian Air Force, CII and SIDM today in Delhi, the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh said that “the government has just approved the proposal for providing test facilities of the Government entities to the private sector after incorporating the comments of stakeholders, particularly indigenous defence manufactures”.  A formal Government order would be issued soon which will remove various bottlenecks which used to come in the way of using these test facilities by private entities”.   He further added that easy access to these test facilities to private sector would go a long way in helping the industry needs.   

Earlier address the gathering  Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, PVSM AVSM YSM VM ADC, Chief of the Air Staff said that sustenance of assets was a challenging task primarily due to technological obsolescence and diminishing product support from OEMs. He mentioned “the Nodal Technology centres at Air Force Base Repair Depots have successfully completed 40 indigenisation projects with the help of the private industry, R&D establishments, academia etc. last year and another 122 projects are being vigorously pursued for fructification”.

Air Marshal S Choudhary, VSM, Air Officer-in-Charge Maintenance, IAF in his address spoke about the challenges arising as a result of maintaining as diverse an inventory of weapon delivery systems as is operated by the IAF.  He implored the industry to work with the IAF and provide solutions for obsolescence mitigation and import substitution.

Mr Satish Kaura, Member SIDM and Chairman Samtel Group in his address spoke about the Program for Naval Helicopters under the ‘Strategic Partnership’ model that has been set in motion in good earnest. He said that “Industry and Govt need to work in perfect harmony, to make it fructify. This program is a ‘beacon of hope’ for the industry, as its success will determine the course of the other programs for Submarines and Fighter Aircraft.”  He further stated that Government should provide a policy framework to harness the ‘complimentary’ strengths and capacities of private industry and synergize the efforts of private and public industry.  The policy framework should facilitate partnerships, Joint Ventures, long term production arrangements- between private and public industry.

Lt Gen JP Nehra PVSM AVSM** (Retd.), Principal Adviser (Defence), CII  delivering the Welcome Address lauded the government’s commitment to ‘Make in India’ and assured full support from CII and SIDM in harnessing the potential of the indigenous industry.

The Seminar on Modernisation and Indigenisation Plans of the Indian Air Force was organised to help the Indian industry better understand the requirements of the IAF and to fine tune their capabilities to meet these requirements. The sessions are aimed to highlight modernisation plans and opportunities of the IAF, besides generating a forum for discussing various policies and provisions initiated by the Government for ensuring convergence among various stakeholders. The highlight of the Seminar was the release of a “Compendium of NTC Projects 2018-19” and a document delineating “Indigenisation Requirements of the IAF” by the Raksha Mantri. The seminar saw participation of over 250 delegates cutting across the industry, services, government officials as well as the academia.