INDIA -- the whole country -- was waiting for a proud assertion of this type, that it will be able start making its own fighter jet engines of all categories in just a few years. An appropriate research-and-development and manufacturing ecosystem has been developed over time and it will be fine-tuned all the better and all the more. This assertion by Padmashri Mr. Kota Harinarayan, the designer of the famed Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, has come as an endorsement of the national effort of years. This should make every Indian very proud, and very confident of his/her country’s enhanced capabilities in areas of higher expertise in high-value defence production. In the past few years, the entire R&D ecosystem for defence production in the country has seen a lot of gearing up in every which the way -- funding, manpower, research-focus, need-based projects, strict adherence to timelines.

 

If Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has made rapid strides in right direction, organisations like Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also have contributed hugely to fine-tuning Indian manufacturing in public as well as private sector. Both these sectors are now acting as near-equal partners in ‘Make In India’ and ‘Made In India’ domains to make possible Atmanirbhar Bharat highlighting greater self-reliance in defence production. Mr. Kota Harinarayan’s assertion appears to be the latest endorsement of the new culture in the country’s defence manufacturing. Of course, this has not come automatically just because somebody has wished so. India has taken at least 30-plus years to come to this level of operational and research efficiency. When early pioneers of Indian defence development and production first started talking of ‘quality language’, they were looked at with an understandable element of surprise. For, until that moment, India’s defence production -- mostly in different Government-run ordnance factories -- was believed to be of a low quality and touching only the fringes of defence requirement of the country. So, when the talk began to introduce ‘quality’ as a buzz-word of defence production, the country looked askance -- and even laughed at the early pioneers of the idea. The country has travelled much and far from that point in history and is now regarded by the world as one of the major global defence exporters. In the past ten years, India’s defence production in both public and private sectors has gone up astonishingly. Its missile systems -- such as Akaashteer -- have attracted global attention, thanks to the recent Operation Sindoor’s success.

 

It is only natural against this background to hear the news that India would soon be making its own fighter jet engines of all categories. Mr. Kota Harinarayan has served a great national cause by asserting that soon India would start making its own fighter jet engines. There is no doubt that a person of his eminence and sense of responsibility will make any critical statement only after he is more than one hundred per cent sure of his facts. It must be said that India’s defence designing and manufacturing has reached what is described proverbially as “next level”. India is already making a very large percentage of its own defence requirements within the country. In this atmosphere, to start making fighter jet engines will serve a great national cause and further a great national goal.