DEFENCE SECRETARY FLAGS INDIA’S MISSILE PRODUCTION GAP, CALLS FOR WIDER INDUSTRIAL BASE

September 25, 2026 

NEW DELHI: Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has highlighted a significant gap between India’s missile production capacity and that of some overseas manufacturers, saying a Ukrainian company can produce around 100 missiles a month while India’s annual output remains at roughly 200–300 missiles. He made the remarks at the News18 DEFCON 2026 summit.

Singh said India could not depend on a single defence manufacturer and needed to expand the number of companies involved in military production. He said conventional missile technology had been opened to private-sector participation as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s defence industrial base.

The Defence Secretary said the Russia-Ukraine war and the Iran-US conflict had demonstrated the growing importance of asymmetric capabilities, including drones, counter-drone systems, electronic warfare and low-cost missiles. He noted that relatively inexpensive weapons could force the use of much more expensive defensive systems, increasing the overall cost of warfare.

Singh also cautioned that domestic manufacturing alone would not guarantee complete technological self-reliance. He said India would continue to require international partnerships in certain specialised areas, citing jet-engine technology as an example. At the same time, he described excessive import dependence as a potential vulnerability and called for a broader domestic ecosystem involving industry, science and multiple suppliers.

He said ₹2,800 crore worth of contracts had been awarded under programmes such as iDEX and stressed that predictable orders could help sustain India’s growing defence industry. The remarks come as the government seeks to increase private-sector participation and expand domestic production of military equipment and technologies.