Ajay Kumar on Defense Innovation in India

The recent war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Middle East have provided valuable lessons when it comes to the nature of future military modernisation and defense innovation. While traditional warfare remains relevant, we are seeing a shift towards multi-domain operations that are more kinetic and are increasingly utilizing autonomous weapons. 

As India seeks to boost its defence exports, its domestic industry will have a role to play. Several factors have played a role in the recent spike in defence exports—regulatory initiatives, enhanced capability of the private sector, and the desire among other countries to diversify away from their traditional defence partners and look at India instead. Additionally, the INDUS-X initiative between India and the U.S. has also been noted as a welcome mechanism to encourage further defence cooperation in other emerging technologies such as quantum computing, space, cyber-security, and deep-sea technology.

What are the potential opportunities that international collaborations present? Will India's domestic industry be able to meet the armed forces' requirements? 

In this episode of Interpreting India, Ajay Kumar and Konark Bhandari talk about the current status of defence innovation in India and the emerging trends in this space.  

Episode Contributors

Ajay Kumar is a nonresident senior fellow at Carnegie India. He served as the defense secretary of India between August 2019 and October 2022 and is the longest serving secretary in the Ministry of Defence, where he also served as secretary in the Department of Defence Production. As defense secretary, Ajay Kumar was the key architect for several major transformations, including the restructuring of higher defense management in the country and formation of the chief of defense staff in the Indian Armed Forces; the launch of the Agniveer scheme—a historic reform in recruitment, training, and retention of personnel in the Armed Forces. 

Konark Bhandari is a fellow with Carnegie India. He is a lawyer who has researched certain areas in the digital economy, focusing primarily on approaches to antitrust regulation of companies in the digital realm. He had earlier worked at India’s antitrust regulator, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), where he worked closely with senior officials on a variety of matters. He is also an avid follower of the regulation of the space technology ecosystem and is keen to contribute to that discipline. 

Additional Readings

INDUS-X: Charting the Way Ahead for India-U.S. Defense Industrial Cooperation, by Konark Bhandari. 

Can a Defense Innovation Bridge Elevate India-U.S. Defense Cooperation? by Konark Bhandari. 

Sameer Lalwani on India-U.S. Defense-Industrial Cooperation.

U.S.-India Defense Innovation Collaboration: Building on a Promising Start by Konark Bhandari.

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