Dr Samir V Kamat, the head of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has issued a firm warning regarding India’s reliance on foreign nations for essential material development technology within the defence sector.

He argued that international partners are generally only willing to share specific technologies once they have already integrated them into their own systems and moved on to more advanced iterations. This creates a cycle where India remains a generation behind the global leaders rather than establishing itself as a pioneer.

According to Kamat, if India intends to achieve its ambition of becoming "Atmanirbhar" (Self-Reliant) and a genuine technology leader, material development must become a primary area of focus. He identified a critical disconnect between the pace of material innovation and system engineering. 

Currently, the cycle for developing new materials takes between 10 and 15 years, whereas the development cycle for defence systems is rapidly shrinking. In fast-moving sectors like drone technology, hardware and software can become obsolete in just a year or two.

This discrepancy poses a significant risk: if the creation of new materials cannot keep pace with the demand for new systems, integrating advanced components into modern platforms becomes an increasingly difficult hurdle.

To combat this, the DRDO chief noted that the materials community is now turning to integrated computational materials engineering, alongside artificial intelligence and machine learning tools. He expressed optimism that these digital technologies will successfully compress the material development timeline over the next decade.

Beyond the initial creation of materials, Kamat underlined the importance of the manufacturing stage, specifically the ability to convert raw materials into the precise product forms required for military application.

However, the most pressing bottleneck remains the supply of critical raw materials. For instance, while India possesses the expertise to create magnet technology, it lacks the necessary rare earth metals. This is a strategic vulnerability, as China currently controls 90 per cent of the global rare earth market and a staggering 99 per cent of the heavy rare earths required for high-performance magnets.

The DRDO chief also drew attention to the situation regarding tungsten, which is vital for producing tungsten heavy alloys. Although India has the technological capability to manufacture the alloy, it remains heavily dependent on imports for the raw tungsten itself.

He pointed out that these resources do exist within Indian borders; the issue is that the country has historically neglected the extraction technologies and exploration efforts required to tap into them.

Despite these significant challenges, Kamat remains confident. He believes that the government’s intensified focus on self-reliance will provide the necessary impetus to address gaps in extraction, exploration, and the overall material development cycle, eventually securing India’s strategic independence in the defence sector.

Agencies