Government to open its test facilities to Private Sector

To provide an impetus to the Make in India and to give a flip to domestic manufacturing of weapon systems in India, the Central Government has decided to open its test facilities to the private sector.

What is happening?

• Indian Armed Forces rely on foreign suppliers for most of their weapon needs.
• Over 70% of the defense equipment used by India has a foreign origin.
• The Indian Government has decided to give an increased impetus to domestic manufacturers for making the defense equipment in India.
• However, the private manufacturers of defense equipment in India claim that they lack the facilities to test their developed weapon systems and small explosives.
• Most of the defense testing ranges in India are controlled by either the defense ministry or the PSUs which are allowed to legally but are reluctant to share their facilities with the private sector due to archaic laws and red tape.?

What is the Government’s response?

The government has decided to allow the demand of private industries to provide them with a level playing field in defense manufacturing and has opened the test facilities of the government and associated armed forces for the private sector.

This will allow the manufacturers to properly test and quantify their weapon systems in a controlled environment and the Armed Forces may treat their results more seriously.