Terming his visit to Defence Public Sector Units like HAL, BEL and BEML here as "satisfyingand a personal education", he said that withthe experienceof Defence Public Sector Units (DPSU) and the entrepreneurshipof private sector, "coupled with the size of our market, we should enhanceour manufacturing ability".
"In the present geopolitical situation, India is located somewhat sensitively. We've had in the past also multiple threats and, therefore, preparedness is something India could never compromise on," the defence minister said.
"It has been traditionallysaid and believed that countries don't win battles merely by depending on equipment they buy from others in the world. They have to enrich and expand their on capacity," he said.
Jaitley was speaking afterlaunching the production of HAL-designed 5.8-ton category Light Combat Helicopter and dedicating the company's design upgrade programme of Hawk-i to the nation atHALpremises here.
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"Therefore, it is extremelynecessary we came out of the mindset that India will always be a buyer of defence equipment. Our narrow policies have also contributed to this," he said.
Jaitley said India is systematicallymoving in a direction where "we wish to now evolve and develop overselves in to a major manufacturing hub, not only for our own requirements but also to supply to other countries".
Pointing atthe changes made in the Defence Procurement Procedure policy, Jaitley said some platforms are thrown open to private sector to set up manufacturing facilities in India.
He said, "It is absolutely necessary that both our strength with the experienceof DPSUs and the entrepreneurshipof private sector coupled with the size of our market, we enhanceour manufacturing ability so that India even in this field graduates from being net buyer into manufacturer and hopefully at a later stage a supplier to other countries in the world.
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