'Unconventional ideas needed to counter unconventional warfare': Rajnath Singh urges private players to take lead in defence sector

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh urged the private sector to move forward from ‘participation’ to ‘taking lead’ in the defence sector and assured that the government will offer full support for them to make India an innovation and technology hub and one of the strongest countries in the world.

Addressing scientists, industry leaders, academia, start-ups, MSMEs and young entrepreneurs during 'Twaral', a DRDO-Industry Workshop on Defence Technology Acceleration organised at DRDO Bhawan in New Delhi on Friday, the defence minister noted that today, technology has transformed conventional warfare into unconventional warfare.

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“New dimensions have been added to modern-day warfare such as drones, cyber warfare, bio-weapons and space defence. In this transformative phase, R&D in defence will definitely make the defence sector stronger,” he said and added that it is time for the private players to take the lead in defence sector as they have the ability to absorb rapid changes and create new innovations.

He pointed out that the only way to have an edge in unconventional warfare is by adopting unconventional ideas. Although this is a tough task, the government will continue providing all necessary support to the youth, scientists, industrialists and MSMEs in this regard, the defence minister assured.

He said the government intends to make the defence sector more innovative and technology-oriented.

“Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme is providing up to 90 per cent of the total project cost as grant support to eligible industries. The total support is up to Rs 50 crore, a good amount for any MSME and start-up to invest in defence R&D. Since its launch six years ago, 79 projects have been sanctioned, of which, technology has successfully been developed in 18 projects.”

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Singh urged the private sector to move in line with the unprecedented speed with which technological changes are taking place across the globe.

‘Dare to Dream 5.0’

During the event, the defence minister launched ‘Dare to Dream 5.0’ in a bid to encourage the next generation of innovators and start-ups to come forward with transformative ideas for defence applications.

The fifth edition of DRDO’s innovation contest aims to generate cutting-edge solutions for India to progress further in its pursuit to achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence technologies.

He felicitated the winners of ‘Dare to Dream 4.0’, for disruptive solutions and innovations in the fields of countermeasures for drones and swarm of drones; advanced acoustic system to locate gunfire, directed energy technologies, cognitive listening device, target seeking and proximity sensing, free-space laser communication system, multi-terrain multi-utility robot among others.

He said it is important to make both incremental and disruptive technologies within the defence sector.