by Darpan Agarwal

Modern warfare is teaching one lesson repeatedly: having advanced weapons is not enough. A country must also be able to produce and replenish them at scale.

The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have demonstrated how rapidly modern militaries can consume missiles, air-defence interceptors, rockets and artillery ammunition. The United States, despite possessing one of the world's largest military arsenals, has faced significant pressure on stocks of weapons such as Tomahawk, JASSM, Patriot and THAAD interceptors during the 2026 Iran conflict.

The Russia-Ukraine war has provided an equally important lesson for Europe. Artillery ammunition, precision weapons and air-defence interceptors have been consumed at rates that exceeded many pre-war assumptions. European nations have consequently had to expand production capacity while simultaneously supporting Ukraine and maintaining their own stockpiles.

India should draw the same lesson during peacetime.

India has already developed an impressive indigenous weapons portfolio. BrahMos provides a powerful long-range strike capability. Astra is building an indigenous air-to-air missile family. Rudram provides an anti-radiation capability against enemy radar and air-defence systems. Akash and other indigenous air-defence systems contribute to the defensive shield, while Pinaka provides large-scale rocket artillery capability. India is also progressing with systems such as Pralay and longer-range air-defence programmes. The next challenge is therefore not simply developing another missile. It is producing the missiles we already have in sufficient numbers.

India should steadily expand manufacturing capacity of:

BrahMos and other long-range precision weapons
Astra and future air-to-air missile variants
Rudram and other anti-radiation weapons
Akash and future air-defence interceptors
Pinaka and guided Pinaka rockets
Pralay and other precision strike systems
Anti-Tank guided missiles
155 mm and other artillery ammunition
Rocket and Howitzer ammunition
Air-Defence interceptors
Propellants, seekers, electronics and warheads

The important word is capacity.

Factories should not be designed merely to meet today's peacetime requirement. India needs a defence-industrial ecosystem capable of maintaining substantial reserves and rapidly increasing output during a crisis.

This is particularly important because missiles are not simply assembled from a few large components. Their seekers, propulsion systems, guidance electronics, control systems, warheads and specialised materials all require resilient supply chains. A factory capable of assembling 100 missiles is of limited value if a foreign component limits production to 20.

India has already begun moving in this direction. The BrahMos production facility in Lucknow, for example, has an announced capacity of approximately 100 missile systems annually. The government has also been expanding private-sector participation in ammunition and missile manufacturing, including the transfer of DRDO-developed technologies to Indian industry.

But the objective should go further.

India needs depth, redundancy and surge capacity.

Multiple companies should be capable of producing critical components. Ammunition plants should maintain the ability to expand production rapidly. Large inventories should be continuously rotated and replenished rather than allowed to become obsolete. Private industry, DRDO, DPSUs and the armed forces should operate as one larger industrial ecosystem.

There is also an important economic benefit. Building this capacity during peacetime creates skilled jobs, strengthens domestic manufacturing and develops technologies that can eventually become exports.

The central lesson from Ukraine and the Iran conflict is therefore straightforward:

Wars are not won only by the weapons that exist on the first day. They are sustained by the weapons that can be produced on the hundredth day.

India should therefore avoid waiting for a crisis to discover that production lines, specialised components or ammunition reserves cannot keep pace with wartime consumption.

Prepare in peace. Produce continuously. Maintain reserves. Build surge capacity. That is not preparation for war.

It is preparation to ensure that, if war ever comes, India is not forced to fight its first battle while simultaneously trying to build the weapons needed for the next one.

Darpan Agarwal is a defence enthusiast. This essay reflects author's opinions alone