Weapon Industry: What You Must Know


Paurush Kumar

Weapons, the most used term when it comes to war and peace.
Weaponization, as a term is often used in a negative light because of its relation with violence and destruction. The topmost reason of growth in this industry is none other than the human traits of ownership, aggression and autocracy.

WAR MAKES THIEVES AND PEACE HANGS THEM-George Herbert (British Poet)
THE PURPOSE OF ALL WARS IS PEACE”-St. Augustine
Well these quotes sum up the loop of war, peace and the human nature involved.

For the year of 2016 the expenditure of world on the weapon industry has grown to $1,686 billion, of which the USA spent $611 billion and China came next at $215 billion. India spent $55.9 billions on it in which the major percentage involved imports from other countries. There is a dire need to develop the weapon industry of India, by developing more technologies to revolutionize the defence of the country. The new players in this field which can contribute very effectively are exoskeletons and human augmentation. Visual and simulation process are also being involved in training purposes.

9 profitable weapon manufacturing companies of the world are: -
1. Lockheed Martin (USA)
2. Boeing (USA)
3. British aerospace Systems (Britain)
4. Raytheon (USA)
5. Northrop Grumman (USA)
6. General Dynamics (USA)
7. Airbus Group (European Union)
8. United Technologies Corporation (USA)
9. Finmeccanica (Italy)

The Government of India has launched various programs such as Startup India, StandUp India and Make in India to support newly hatching startups and also to attract foreign investment. The defence sector was made open for private firms from May 2001 which attracted a lot of investment from foreign countries. Transfer of technology will play a major role in development of this industry.

The Indian Startup ecosystem has achieved great heights in eCommerce, automotive, AI etc., its time for the defence sector to lead with Out of Box innovations. Military technology and Weapon engineering is the sector in India with lot of emerging opportunities ,as there is much space to grow and considering the favourable situation around. As more and more sophisticated weapons of warfare are being developed and the defence system has begun to rely more and more on machines than on individual expertise, the scope of development of weapon engineering has developed. Exo-skeleton and development of drones are the most awaited technologies. The postmodern stage of military technology emerged in the 1940s, and one with recognition, thanks to the high priority given during the war to scientific and engineering research and development regarding nuclear weapons, radar, jet engines, proximity fuses, advanced submarines, aircraft carriers, and other weapons. The high-priority continues into the 21st century. It involves the military application of advanced scientific research regarding nuclear weapons, jet engines, ballistic and guided missiles, radar, biological warfare, and the use of electronics, computers and software.
The list of Indias defence tech Startups: -
1.       Tonbo Imaging
2.       ideaForge
3.       Aadyah Aerospace
4.       CM Envirosystems
5.       CRON Systems
6.       Aurora Integrated Systems
7.       Axio BioSolutions
8.       TimeTooth Technologies
9.       VizExperts

The Government has shown considerable interest in the upcoming companies related to weapon engineering, which paves the way for new technologies to step in as startup in the industry as the growth is very much visible in the nearby future. The most viable method is a joint venture with a foreign company. If India can encourage its private sector to set up at least two such joint ventures, a fair amount of self-sufficiency to supply small arms to the military, para-military as well as the state police forces will be ensured. With the existing human workforce and skill available, we can strengthen the industry in India to a much higher level as well as it will also help the emerging startups in this sector, thus creating Indias own defence empire.

However, with rapid advancement in defence technologies this is only possible if India enters into mutually profitable joint ventures with international partners with the aim to jump the technological gap by kick-starting the defence sector at much greater level. 

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