India has shown complete dominance during Operation Sindoor, showcasing its air power and air defence capability, said Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy, former Secretary, Research and Development, and Chairman, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), while expressing happiness that the majority of them are indigenous systems. He cautioned that technology is changing very fast, and the process of development shouldn’t be so long that the technology gets outdated by the time it is inducted.

Q: What is your overall assessment of Operation Sindoor?

A: Firstly, it is important to understand that what has happened in this conflict is different compared to the earlier conflicts, unlike any other typical war that India has fought till date. Firstly, this was largely an airborne or aerial warfare which completely tested the air power and air defence of our country, across both manned and unmanned platforms. Secondly, for India, it has been a moment of reckoning, which has validated our domestic defence manufacturing ecosystem. We have been discussing (and executing) over the last 10 years or so the procurement and induction of more indigenous weapons. Today, this has happened to a large extent, and as the reports and press briefs and MoD releases have stated, Operation Sindoor has been fought with the majority of indigenous weapons and equipment. Our resolve over the last decade or so has been to strengthen our indigenous ecosystem, and the events in the last few years, especially the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the COVID pandemic, have again highlighted the risks in sourcing from the global supply chain. According to me, Operation Sindoor not only vindicated our Atmanirbharata resolve but also lays down a path for future procurement strategies as well.

A: Overall, Operation Sindoor highlighted India’s complete dominance, where in the first attack, complete terrorist camps were eliminated and in the second, the enemy air defence radars and other systems were neutralised, which was then followed by attacking their air bases and leveraging our air defence systems to prevent counter attacks on our bases. It is heartening to see that almost all attempts by the enemy to attack were neutralised by our air defence systems in mid-air itself – few that sneaked through were not as effective as they did not do any significant damage per se. Operation Sindoor proved the effectiveness of India’s air defence systems (largely home-grown) while also showcasing the depth of the attack arsenal to be able to target and neutralise any base locations of the enemy. I am extremely happy that the majority of the systems used were indigenous systems. It is time for the Government and industry to go full throttle on further strengthening the indigenous defence manufacturing and R&D ecosystem.

Q: We are talking a lot of Indian systems integrated with imported systems, all of which functioned seamlessly. So what stands out to you in terms of the success story? And are there any limitations or aspects that need to be focussed on?

A: Firstly, Operation Sindoor witnessed multiple indigenous systems being used including air defence radars which have performed very well. The integrated operation of the complete radar network with the other elements of the air defence have worked very well, and the layered air defence with multiple weapons has also proved very effective – be it Akash, Mediurm Range Surface Air Missiles (MRSAM) or others.

A: I think the command and control centre was fully aware of the situation, and to be able to track and target every incoming object with the appropriate weapon, required strong and comprehensive connectivity with the entire ecosystem. We hear the anti-drone systems have also been fully functional and were able to handle almost all the incoming drones and drone swarms. This reiterates the fact that there needs to be investment in much more advanced systems, with strong connectivity and integration, such that one system can speak to another. We need to have/create that vision and invest in niche and futuristic areas so that we can be ahead of the technology curve. The enemy understands our capability now, and this makes it all the more imperative that we continue to evolve and be more advanced in our attack and defence for the future.

Q: What should be our priority in the next 5-10 years?

A: Investing in niche technologies is key and intuitively investing in countering of these niche technologies as well. If there is a technology, more likely that the enemy also knows about it and hence it is important to have a counter to that as well as a deterrent or defence mechanism.

A: For instance, technology developments in the unmanned systems domain (across land, sea and air) are growing at an exponential rate. We as a country need to focus on both manned, unmanned and anti-unmanned technologies in a big way – from micro drones to mini-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to drone swarms, to the stealthy High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) and fighter aircraft versions and to the Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) and Unmanned Underwater vehicles (UUV). We need to work vigorously towards high technology areas including hypersonics, quantum technologies, laser weapons, electromagnetics, higher precision and long-range sensors as well as highly miniaturised electronics. We need to look at technologies which can target longer ranges with cost-effective means, and we also need to look at cost-effective technologies that can counter enemy attacks by detecting and engaging them at farther ranges using both hard kill and soft kill mechanisms. We also need to consider the possibility that the future warfare may revolve around space and/or cyber only, and hence we need to parallelly continue our R&D and innovation in these areas as well, at a faster pace and with a stronger resolve.

Q: If you have to pick one major system as a success story, what would that be?

A: I feel more proud of the Akash missile systems as it is one of the missiles that has been developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development programme (IGMDP). It was a project which was conceived by none other than Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. I heard that our armed forces are extremely happy with the performance of that system. That for sure it is a proud moment for me and for every Indian I must say. There are other weapons also, like the other SAMs and also the BrahMos which have reportedly performed very well. Our radars and multiple sensors (both airborne and on ground) have effectively negated enemy attacks.

A: I would like to add that for the plethora of weapons which are currently being developed, if they come up quickly, our armed forces will be significantly strengthened. With current indigenous content in the armed forces at 60-65%, which soon will go to 75-80%, it will be another major leap towards indigenisation. We need to work out mechanisms and processes to ensure that the procurement cycle from development to induction happens in the most efficient and effective manner.

Q: So how do you ensure the development and procurements happens fast?

A: Processes have to be simplified and sequential induction processes should also be removed. An integrated system should be brought in such that it is an integrated process from development to induction, and roadmap for usage of every project deliverable should be very clearly defined. This will enable the industry to plan their capacities and capabilities and come up with the production facilities right in the beginning itself. There are couple of systems where development, production and induction have happened quickly, and that should be replicated for other procurement as well. Technology is changing fast and the internal process from development to induction should not allow the technology to get outdated by the time it is inducted.

A: I want to say that this war brought many positive things to India. First, many indigenous systems have been used very effectively, so the confidence of the armed forces in the indigenous equipment has reached all-time highs. I believe this will lead to more vigorous and efficient induction of indigenous systems. The morale of the scientific community today is very high, and this paves the way for the development of many more advanced systems. Industry is now more confident of getting production orders for indigenous systems, and they should hence gear up and be ready to absorb bulk orders. The international community has seen what India’s capability is, so I feel the exports will also see another period of marked growth. These are significant takeaways for India from this conflict, and they have given an opportunity for growth and challenges to all stakeholders who are also gearing up to meet the same.