Indias Arm Manufacturing in Defence Sector

Over the past decade, India has become the world s largest arms importer. During the Cold War, India bought arms mostly from the Soviet Union, but now it is increasingly buying from other suppliers. India has the 3rd largest military in the world and is the 6th biggest defence spender. India spends around 30 % of its total defence budget on capital acquisition. The Make in India initiative by the government is focusing its efforts on increasing in indigenous defence manufacturing and becoming self-reliant. As India grows, it wants to improve the domestic capacity, increase strategic autonomy, and be accepted as an equal player in the worldwide arena. To do so, India needs to become independent and decrease the leverage that often comes with arms supplies. Developing its own industry, diversifying suppliers, avoiding countries that trade for ulterior motives, improving multilateral relations, and joining global export control regimes are some of the strategies. Operational Research, has contributed substantially to decisions on cost-effective induction of weapon systems, evaluation of tactical plans, development of computerized war games for training, realistic formulation of General Staff Qualitative Requirements, performance and reliability evaluation of military hardware under design and development, force structure planning and other tactical and strategic issues in Indian defence.