"Making All Warships In India": Rajnath Singh's Self-Reliance Message At NDTV Defence Summit

India's warships will be made in India, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Saturday at NDTV's defence summit, underlining a renewed push towards an 'aatmanirbhar Bharat' to boost the country's military profile and might amid global economic and geopolitical challenges.

The call-out to the Indian Navy comes days after the commissioning of two 'made-in-India' Nilgiri-class stealth frigates - INS Himgiri and INS Udaygiri - each with significant upgrades in weapon and sensor systems and capable of executing a full spectrum of maritime missions.

This level of indigenous development - 75 per cent of each of the new warships were designed locally - can only strengthen India's strategic autonomy, the Defence Minister said.

The call-out also follows the conclusion of Operation Sindoor, India's military response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. The attack, carried out by terrorists from an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, killed 26 people, mostly civilians. India responded with precision strikes targeting terror camps in Pak and Pak-occupied Kashmir.

A particular highlight of Op Sindoor was the use of indigenously developed air defence system modules that protected civilian and military assets from the storm of Pak missiles and drones.

The Defence Minister said the world was a witness to India's defence capabilities. "The way our forces, with indigenous equipment, carried out precise strikes on their targets shows no mission can succeed without a vision, long-term prep, and coordination," he said at the NDTV summit.

"Op Sindoor may seem like just a few days' war, and a story of India's victory and Pakistan's defeat, but behind it lay years of strategic preparation and a long role of defense preparedness."

The Defence Minister also touched on another aspect of increased in-house military development - revenue from export of weapons and weapons systems. "In 2014, our defence export was less than Rs 700 crore. Today it has increased to nearly Rs 24,000 crore, reaching a record level. This shows that India is no longer just a buyer... it is becoming an exporter."

"This very approach will keep us secure in the times to come and also secure us a leading position among the world's emerging powers," he said.