India Must Stop Buying and Depending on Foreign-Made Weapons says India Defense Chief

India must stop buying and depending on foreign-made weapons and instead start manufacturing its own, India's Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat told The Times of India in an exclusive interview Saturday.

Rawat wants to insure that "Make in India," a favored slogan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, becomes a reality.

"We are not expeditionary forces that have to deploy around the globe," Rawat told the Times. "So, we should not go in for large amounts of imports by misrepresenting our operational requirements."

India, like the rest of the world, is dealing with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Only Saudi Arabia surpasses India in the purchase of foreign weapons, the newspaper reports.

Rawat said India has to support its domestic defense industrial base even if the produced weapons perform at "reduced technical specifications" or GSQRs (general staff qualitative requirements).

"We should boost 'Make in India' by hand-holding our domestic industry, even if they deliver weapons with only 70 percent of the GSQRs in the beginning," the general said.