LEVERAGING DEFENCE STARTUPS AS FORCE MULTIPLIERS FOR ADVANCING INDIGENOUS DEFENCE PRODUCTION

Abstract

This study seeks to establish the role of defence start-ups in improving indigenous defence manufacturing with an aim of evaluating the new age innovative venturing companies’ contribution in improving defence self-reliance and minimizing reliance on off-shore technology import. In the recent years, just like India, other countries have also started focusing on indigenization to enhance their strategic independence concerning new geo-political issues. High-tech new generation enterprises, flexible, innovative and offering tailored solutions, act as force amplifiers in the process. They partner with various government campaigns like India’s Make in India and Defence Innovation Organization program to create related technologies like artificial intelligence, drone, cybersecurity and autonomous systems that meets the defence needs of the country. This research investigates how these innovations are adopted and implemented into the larger defence systems market and the impact such implementation has on the advancement of technology and emergence of competition to improve respectively the rate of efficiency and costs. It also recognizes the problem that these startups encounter, such as short funds, legal barriers, and challenges in growth, before providing recommendation for policies to enhance them and partnership to escalate their value. The study further implies that with a garment ecosystem of financial motivations, lessened bureaucratic constraints and adjunct defence organizations, administration partnerships, defence start-ups can result a quite significant function in attaining self-sufficiency and building and enhancing indigenous competence in defence manufacturing.