Chief of Defence Staff General NS Raja Subramani has said that it is important for the industry to move quickly from prototype to product as fast as possible at a discussion on Atmanirbharta in defence and related issues at the NDTV Defence Summit 2026.
He said many years ago the armed forces would not even talk to the industry; however, the armed forces now treat industry as partners. Things have changed since then.
"Our job as defence forces is not to ask for technological solutions. Our job is to articulate the problems, articulate the effects that we desire and allow industry to come up with technological solutions to the effects that we want to," General Subramani said.
He explained three things that the armed forces would like to have from the industry, which are speed, scale and volume.
"What would I like from the industry? I would like the industry to quickly move from prototype to product as far as possible, as fast as possible. Work with us, iterate with us so that we can deploy faster and we deploy at scale," the Chief of Defence Staff said.
He asked researchers to think about the outcomes of their work, while also agreeing that "research for the sake of research is also good."
"As far as the academy or the researchers are concerned, I would request you to be problem solvers, not problem creators, not only giving us products. Solve the problems that we have. Work with us, focus on outcomes... We require research that comes up with outcomes that we want, at speed and one that can be scaled," General Subramani said.
#NDTVDefenceSummit2026 | "Want industry to move from prototype to product as fast as possible": Chief Of Defence General NS Raja Subramani to NDTV's @AdityaRajKaul #NDTVDefenceSummit | @rahulkanwal | @ShivAroor pic.twitter.com/tc4JQqIKs9
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According to him, collaborative approaches between the defence forces and the industry are already working now and there are many startups that would vouch for it.
The comments come amid the government stepping up measures to strengthen the country's defence capabilities while expanding indigenous production and technology development of military hardware.
The NDTV Defence Summit 2026, themed 'India's New Defence Edge', brought together senior defence officials, military officers and industry leaders to discuss India's changing defence requirements and the technologies shaping future warfare.
The value of indigenous defence production increased from Rs 46,429 crore in 2014-15 to a record Rs 1.78 lakh crore in 2025-26, the government had said recently. Twelve years ago, 'Make in India' was launched with the ambition of becoming a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation. Today, the initiative focuses on 27 sectors, which include 15 in manufacturing and 12 in services.
India is also poised to achieve its Rs 50,000 crore target for defence exports by 2028, nearly two years ahead of the 2030 deadline fixed by the government, as overseas demand for the country's military hardware is on the rise. The country's annual defence exports have surged to a record Rs 38,424 crore in 2025-26 compared with a mere Rs 686 crore in 2013-14.
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