Overview
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced a shift to 'Aatmanirbharta 2.0' on Monday at Swavlamban 2026, urging a move from volume indigenisation to state‑of‑the‑art, cost‑effective and globally competitive military technologies.
- Navy chief Admiral Krishna Swaminathan and Vice Chief Ajay Kochhar pressed for a shorter 'innovation to integration' cycle to get new systems into service faster.
- Speakers identified artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and cyber tools as top priorities and cited the rapid growth of drone use in conflicts such as the war in Ukraine as proof that technological leads can vanish quickly.
- Rajnath Singh and defence production officials called for stronger R&D, resilient domestic supply chains, dynamic roadmaps with timelines and pre‑assessed buffer stocks to reduce import dependence.
- The shift raises pressure on shipbuilding and defence firms to deliver higher‑quality, exportable platforms and signals that the next steps will be joint roadmaps and closer industry‑academia collaboration rather than immediate new procurements.