Innovations for Defence Excellence  

  • Recently, the Defence Minister has approved the budgetary support of Rs. 498.8 crore to Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) challenge under the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) for the next five years.
  • Earlier, the Defence Minister released an E-booklet titled ‘20 Reforms in 2020’ highlighting the major reforms undertaken by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 2020. 
Key Points
  • About:
    • The iDEX initiative was launched by the Prime Minister in April 2018. 
    • It aims to achieve self – reliance and foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Industries including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia. 
    • iDEX is funded and managed by the DIO, and functions as the executive arm of Dio. 
    • DIO is a ‘not for profit’ company registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act
    • Its two founding members are Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) & Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) – Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs). HAL and BEL are navratna companies.
    • It will provide the engaging industries with funding and other support to carry out Research & development. 
      • Self-reliance in manufacturing of defence equipment is a crucial factor for maintaining India’s strategic autonomy. 
      • India’s arms imports fell 33% between 2011-15 and 2016-20, said a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
    • iDEX has partnered with leading incubators in the country to provide hand holding, technical support and guidance to the winners of iDEX
Other Related Initiatives:
  • Defence Industrial Corridors:
  • To support the growth of the Defence sector and enhance manufacturing capacity in the sector, two Defence Industrial Corridors are being set up in India, one in Uttar Pradesh and another in Tamil. 
Strategic Partnership (SP) Model:
  • It identifies a few Indian private companies who would initially tie up with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to seek technology transfers to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains. It is a part of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020. 
    • Under DAP 2020, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has also notified a ‘positive indigenisation list’ of 108 items. 
Artificial Intelligence in Defence:
  • N Chandrasekaran Task Force was set up in 2018 to study implications of AI in national security’s. 
  • Defence Artificial Intelligence Project Agency (DAIPA) was created in March, 2019. 
  • DAIPA aims for greater thrust on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Defence, formulation of an AI roadmap for each Defence PSU and Ordnance Factory Board to develop AI-enable products.
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