Atul Dinkar Rane, Director General, BrahMos, DRDO and CEO & MD, BrahMos Aerospace, in interaction with Industry Outlook, shares his insights on the role of precision strike weapons in modern warfare, range of precision strike missiles, application of technology in developing precise weapons, and more.
Presently, India is the second-largest defense importer in the world, amounting to 9.5 percent of global imports during 2016-20, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). How can import dependency of defense products be reduced? What role do organizations like BrahMos play in attaining the same?
Yes, we remain one of the leading Defence importers in the world. And to reverse this trend, India has embarked on the ambitious journey of becoming completely “Atma Nirbhar” (self-reliant) in defence production and indigenisation, and subsequently emerge as one of the leading defence exporters at the global stage in the foreseeable future.
The roadmap is quite clear. Our Govt has formulated several key policies, one of which is import substitution of critical and strategically-important technologies, systems, sub-systems and components, and procuring these from the domestic defence industry. This “self-imposed moratorium” is going to give an impetus to the Indian Defence sector to work collectively, more diligently and channelize all its resources and capabilities to produce the best of systems/ technologies indigenously. So, this is a very opportune moment for the entire domestic defence industry to come forward and take charge to locally design, develop and produce all these critical equipment, systems, platforms.
The ‘Make-In-India’ drive of defence indigenisation has already started bearing fruit and Indian arms imports have come down significantly (by 32%) since 2015, as per the SIPRI report released in 2020. Interestingly, SIPRI has listed India at 23rd position among top 25 weapons exporters in the world in that same report. This is the first time that India has made it to the global exporters list. So, we definitely are steadily moving forward to realise our goal of becoming one of the top-ranking military exporters in the world. Our Govt has set a target of US$5 billion worth of military exports by the Indian Defence sector by the year 2025.
And BrahMos Aerospace is clearly leading from the front in this direction. With a strong backing from the Govt of India and its forward-looking policy of promoting responsible defence exports, supersonic cruise missile BRAHMOS has achieved the distinct status of being India’s first full-fledged weapon system set for delivery to the Armed Forces of Philippines. Our historic export deal signed with the Republic of Philippines on January 28, 2022 is a very bold step in the direction of achieving India’s export targets. This certainly signifies the emergence of a “New, Responsible, Resurgent” India at the global front.
Despite the proliferation of precision weapons, completing the strike ‘kill chain’ is still difficult. What role does precision strike weapons play in modern warfare? How can a more precise strike weapon be attained?
Military technology worldwide has witnessed a rapid evolution and revolution in the last few decades. Precision-guided weapons have indeed emerged as critical systems to saturate strategic enemy positions and installations in a very short time without getting detected by the adversary’s air defence systems.
Nevertheless, for every new strategy, the enemy always puts in place a counter-strategy. So, the “complete kill chain” is often difficult to achieve.
That is why, the focus has now shifted to design and field even more advanced, “revolutionary” variants of existing precision strike weapons that would fly at hypersonic speed. Such systems, if developed and deployed successfully, can attain “global strike” capability within a few minutes owing to their ultra-high speed, perfect precision and “kinetic kill” power. Several leading nations are currently working on this concept and trying to achieve breakthroughs.
The Hellfire R9X, has emerged as the US military weapon of choice for eliminating terrorist organisations' top commanders without harming civilians. Civilian casualty during missile attack is a disturbing scenario. How is the Indian defense industry working to develop missiles that mitigate scenarios like Civilian casualty?
We have successfully developed and tested BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile system towards this end. It has the capability to carry out “surgical strikes” without any collateral damage to the civilian population. The precision strike missile, with its “target discrimination” capability of precisely identifying the target among a cluster of targets and then hitting it with “bull’s eye” accuracy, enables BRAHMOS to neutralise any such locations (terror launch pads etc.) even in a densely populated area. Formidable BRAHMOS has successfully validated such advanced capabilities during a number of test firings.
Today, the global defense industry is experiencing a massive supply chain disruption matched with increased raw-material costs. How is the Indian defense industry battling with this issue?
The disruptions are there. The swift geopolitical developments have further exacerbated these issues. The world is navigating a very difficult phase right now, and India is no exception. Nevertheless, our strategists and top-level leaders are taking pragmatic decisions to best suit our national interests in such volatile times. The Indian defence industry is making all-round efforts to minimise the challenges arisen due to supply-chain disruptions and rising raw materials cost. The defence industry’s focus has now shifted to become self-reliant (Atma Nirbhar) which has become imperative amid all these ongoing challenges and uncertainties at the global stage.
The distance covered by the precision strike weapon, often plays a crucial role in the defense line. Where do the Indian precision strike weapons stand in this ground? How can the range of precision strike missiles be increased?
Range is definitely important along with speed, precision and firepower. Precision-guided weapons worldwide are undergoing improvisation on all these parameters. India too is working towards this end. While we at BrahMos are incoporating newer technologies and other upgrades to the existing BRAHMOS Weapon System to enhance its overall operational efficacy and functionality, work is also going on (by DRDO) in developing and fielding few other guided missile systems having higher strike range.
The rapid weaponization of emerging cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, cyberspace tools, remote sensing and nano electronics, are aiding the development of more precise weapons. How is the Indian defense industry leveraging technology to deliver more precise weapons?
The Indian defence sector has achieved some advancement in developing cutting-edge current and futuristic technologies such as AI, Robotics, nano technology etc. We are moving ahead in all these sphere. Nevertheless, there is scope to improve further, especially when military technology is undergoing rapid advancements worldwide. Precision weapons are deploying some of these new-age technologies. For instance, BRAHMOS is a ‘fire-and-forget’ precision weapon, which means it uses AI techniques to some extent.
How do you see the Indian defense industry evolving in the near future?
There is huge scope for the Indian defence industry to evolve and emerge as one of the top-most producers of world-class quality products, systems and platforms in the foreseeable future. Our Govt is working in this direction. Industries are coming forward to take up the challenging task of production for defence systems. The main issue would remain in the production capacity enhancement of individual industries.
Our Armed Forces are doing all necessary “hand-holding” of the (defence) industry. With right synergy between the Industry, Academia, R&D institutions and all other stakeholders, India certainly can fulfill our Prime Minister’s vision of becoming a world-class defence manufacturer and exporter in 21st century.
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