Strategic Breathing Space: Why India Must Invest in Indigenous Military Power Now.

Strategic Breathing Space: Why India Must Invest in Indigenous Military Power Now

India today finds itself in a unique strategic position. Its most persistent adversary, Pakistan, is under severe economic strain, limiting its ability to sustain high-end military modernization. China, though militarily assertive, is simultaneously entangled in a growing trade war with the United States and is compelled to balance multiple global priorities. In this environment, India does not face an immediate threat of large-scale war. Instead, it has what may prove to be a rare and finite window of opportunity—a breathing space in which to shift decisively from dependence on foreign arms imports to the building of truly sovereign military power.

This is not a call for complacency. On the contrary, it is a call for urgency. Peaceful periods must be seen not as times to relax, but as times to prepare. The absence of immediate conflict should be treated as a strategic advantage: it allows India to focus resources on long-term capability development rather than short-term procurement fixes. By doing so, India can ensure that in five to ten years it is not scrambling for foreign systems under crisis, but standing firm with an indigenous arsenal capable of deterring both regional and global rivals.

The past decades of Indian defense procurement tell a consistent story. Imports, whether of fighters, tanks, or artillery, have delivered capability, but also left India vulnerable to foreign politics, licensing restrictions, and delays in spares and upgrades. Even high-profile acquisitions such as Rafales or S-400s, while valuable, cannot substitute for sovereign control over the entire ecosystem of defence technology. True military power lies not just in having platforms, but in owning the engines that drive them, the radars that guide them, the satellites that connect them, and the factories that can build replacements at scale during war.

The roadmap forward must begin with aero engines—arguably the greatest bottleneck in India’s aviation ecosystem. Without a domestic engine line capable of powering fighters, UAVs, and transports, every airframe remains hostage to foreign suppliers. Alongside engines, India must accelerate indigenous radar and sensor fusion programs. Stealth aircraft and drones can only be countered by networks of long-range radars, low-frequency sensors, and airborne early warning systems tied together with resilient command-and-control. Similarly, space must be treated as a military frontier. Indigenous constellations of satellites for reconnaissance, navigation, and secure communications are as critical as aircraft or tanks. They are the silent architecture that sustains modern war.

On the combat front, India must double down on its Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) project and the Ghatak unmanned combat air vehicle. Even if timelines stretch, committing to indigenous stealth fighters and UCAVs is essential for future credibility. At the same time, tactical layers of unmanned systems—from loitering munitions to swarm drones—must be mass-produced domestically. Crucially, artificial intelligence has to be integrated across this ecosystem, enabling automated threat detection, swarm coordination, electronic warfare, and cyber defense. Without AI-enabled systems, even the most advanced hardware risks being outpaced by more adaptive adversaries.

Institutionally, this requires bold reforms. India must centralize defence R&D oversight to eliminate bureaucratic delays. Defence PSUs must partner meaningfully with private industry, startups, and academia, rather than functioning in silos. Funding must shift from short-term acquisitions to stable, multi-year lines that give industry the confidence to invest in production and innovation. Export strategies should also be pursued aggressively; selling indigenous systems abroad not only creates diplomatic leverage but also lowers domestic costs through economies of scale.

Critics will argue that indigenous development is slow, risky, and costly. They are not wrong. But the alternative—permanent reliance on imports—is riskier still. No imported system, however advanced, comes without strings. No foreign supply chain can be guaranteed in wartime. And no nation can aspire to great power status while outsourcing its core military technologies.

India’s leaders must recognize that the current calm is a chance that will not last. History shows that geopolitical windows close quickly, often without warning. The only way to ensure long-term sovereignty and deterrence is to invest now, deliberately and consistently, in indigenous engines, radars, satellites, stealth aircraft, drones, and AI-driven defence networks. The choice is not between imports and self-reliance today; it is between dependence and sovereignty tomorrow.

India has a decade to decide what kind of power it wants to be. It can remain the world’s largest arms importer, vulnerable to supply shocks and political strings, or it can emerge as a self-sufficient, technologically sovereign military power. The time to make that choice is not in the middle of the next crisis. The time is now.