In Brief
- Swavlamban 2026 Address: Speaking at the Indian Navy's seminar in New Delhi on October 26, 2026, Singh advocated for cost-effective and globally competitive military tech.
- Supply Chain Resilience: He emphasized securing raw materials like rare earth elements and building strategic buffer stocks against global disruptions.
- R&D and Private Participation: The minister urged high-risk, high-reward R&D funding and greater involvement from startups and the private sector.
- Dual-Technology Focus: He promoted a framework bridging military and civilian technology applications across all armed forces.
Unveiling the Vision for 'Aatmanirbharta 2.0'
Speaking at the two-day Swavlamban 2026 seminar on October 26, 2026, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh declared that while the past decade established a strong foundation for indigenous defence production, the nation must now pursue 'Aatmanirbharta 2.0'.
He urged defense stakeholders to shift focus from purely increasing output volumes to achieving technological superiority, operational efficiency, and global competitiveness.
"The next stage of Aatmanirbharta must produce technologies that are cost-effective, operationally superior, and globally competitive," Singh stated, calling for a time-bound roadmap detailing critical technologies and indigenization targets.
Strengthening Supply Chains and Private R&D
A central theme of the address was managing critical supply chain vulnerabilities. Singh highlighted India's ongoing reliance on external raw materials, such as rare earth elements, urging proactive assessments of domestic production capacities to insulate defense readiness from geopolitical crises.
To support these objectives, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan highlighted progress under the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative, noting that 25 contracts valued at over ₹1,900 crore have been signed for naval innovation projects.
