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NEW DELHI: The Tejas, 30 years in the making, is just 60% indigenous as of now. The story of the indigenous Arjun main battle tank is even worse. First sanctioned in May 1974, 55% of the tank is still made of imported parts.
In sharp contrast, China has emerged as the fastest growing arms exporter around the globe after assiduously building a strong DIB. It's now hawking fighter jets, warships, missiles and smaller arms to countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bolivia and Zambia.
But a "proper ecosystem" has simply not been erected in India. As if the "high import content" in the so-called indigenous projects was not enough, insiders say even the much-touted transfer of technology (ToT) provision build into large defence contracts with foreign manufacturers is a bit of a sham.
"Indian PSUs focus more on just assembling knocked-down kits from foreign vendors instead of properly absorbing technologies," said a senior official, pointing to the ongoing "licensed production" of the Russian-origin Sukhoi-30MKI fighters by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL).
so poor
The Army, in turn, has inducted 124 Arjun Mark-I tanks, while trials are currently in progress for the Mark-II version with 89 "upgrades or improvements". The tank is just about 45% indigenous as of now, with its main laser guided missile being the Israeli LAHAT. "Arjun's missile firing control system, laser target designator, engine transmission, suspension unit and running gear (track) are all foreign," said an Army officer.
Apart from European avionics in JF 17, Brazilian ARM and I read recently that the refuelling probe could be from S. Africa. And as you said as well, most parts are Chinese, which however is as reliable to Pakistan as Israel is to India, therefor Israel radar, or weapons won't be an issue for LCA either. Especially since the we all know than Indian radar, and weapons will be integrated for sure, as soon as they are mature enough (Astra, Sudarshan, most likely Helina).
Furthermore, don't get fooled by those %.
Are those % measured by what? size? weight? smell? market value? colour?... certainly not misions-criticality.
e.g. about that 60% "indigenous" on Brahamos. Even its 95%, it's useless.
becasue the most important of a missle is arguablely its guidance system. If that tiny 5% is imported, the rest 95% is not much more than a block of solid hard metal plus some explosives.
The computer and the guidance system have been designed by India whereas Russia has provided the propulsion system.
And guess who made the guidance system for the Brahmos?
PJ-10 BrahMos
I bet that if you had known this, you would have said the opposite - you would have come here and said that the most important thing in a missile is the propulsion, and that guidance system is nothing. You always start from the conclusion and work back to the premise.
"Indigenous" is a word reserved only for Indians.
I have never heard the F-35 labelled as Indigenous fighter jet by the US,
or the Dassault Rafale by the French,
or the Swiss,
or the Russians.
Why boosting your "assembled military hardware" as Indigenous????
Only the Indians who have no self respect and self esteem would say such a thing when it is not rue.
Of course propulsion: ysytem is another important one, advanced fuel that is to say.
"The computer and the guidance system have been designed by India"
1) note the key word: design. hey, my neighbour kid designs aircraft too.
2) you might want to google how to make and where to import "laser-gyro guidence system" ?
Really? You never heard any other country use the term 'indigenous'? Let's see. Since the topic is a fighter jet, here are 'indegenous' fighter jets from around the world:
IN FOCUS: South Korea outlines strategy for indigenous fighter - 10/27/2011 - Flight Global
Indigenous Fighter designs from Korea, page 1
Japan's Roadmap To An Indigenous Fighter
Why Iran's New Indigenous Stealth Fighter Will Never Get Off The Ground | Gizmodo Australia
Ching-kuo Indigenous Defense Fighter
Indigenous J-10 fighters become Air Force's backbones_English_Xinhua
Indigenous advanced fighter aircraft in Israel : considerations for decision-making : Goren, Ran. : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
So are the Chinese and Japanese and South Koreans and Iranians and Israelis all suffering fromlack of self respect and self esteem, as per you? Or is the fact that like 'speeder 2' above, you come to the conclusion first and base your premise around it? Did you already decide that Indians lack self respect and then work backward to the claim that only Indians call homegrown technology as 'indigenous'? Every non-european and non-american country calls its fighter programs 'indigenous', as a simple google search would tell you. (The reason is not too hard to figure out, if you have something between your ears.)
This is the point where you ought to acknowledge your mistake and revise your inference. But that takes integrity.
Stop embarassing yourself.
Thanks for taking the time to do the search. All the links you labouriously gathered do not include the US, the Russians. the Swiss, the French which I used in my original post.
And as I pointed out in my post, non european and non american countries all call their fighters indigenous. I specifically explained that. Your original post was that ONLY Indians call things as indigenous, and concluded that Indians lack self respect. Your assertion was NOT that only europeans and americans don't call it so.
So tell me, does the charge of lack of self respect apply to all the countries I mentioned? If you see the chinese calling every one of their fighter jets indigenous (which they always do), would your mind race to the conclusion that they lack self respect and esteem? Why is it that you make that conclusion only when you see Indians calling it so? Think about it. This is where some of your prejudices are getting exposed to yourself and others.
As I said, admitting a mistake and revising your mindset requires integrity. People like you and speeder will do a tap dance and try to cover up your mistake, instead of admitting it.