Hyderabad: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday called for making India not merely a user of advanced technologies, but also a developer, innovator, and global leader in critical domains, emphasising the need to strengthen the country’s Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) ecosystem to enhance defence preparedness and self-reliance.
Virtually addressing the 36th Annual Conference on Non-Destructive Evaluation & Enabling Technologies and the 15th International Symposium on Non-Destructive Testing in Aerospace, he stressed the importance of developing indigenous capabilities in advanced inspection technologies, promoting consistent quality assurance practices, and ensuring the accuracy, reliability and integrity of testing results, particularly in strategic applications.
The Defence Minister asserted that there can be no compromise on the integrity of testing results in strategic applications.
The three-day conference, organised by the Indian Society for Non-Destructive Testing in Hyderabad, has brought together over 2,000 professionals, researchers, industry experts and students to deliberate on the latest advancements, emerging technologies and applications in NDT.
Rajnath Singh stressed that NDT technologies enable examination of the integrity of materials, components and structures without causing any damage to them. Elucidating the concept, he said that just as ultrasound and X-rays help examine the human body without surgical intervention, NDT techniques enable the detection of internal defects in critical components without dismantling or damaging them.
He underlined that as Indian defence systems become increasingly sophisticated, every critical material, component, assembly and manufacturing process must meet the highest standards of quality and reliability. “Hidden defects can affect operational availability, increase maintenance requirements, reduce the service life of equipment and, in critical situations, jeopardise mission success. We need to move beyond a culture of merely identifying defects towards actively preventing them by embedding quality at every stage of the manufacturing process,” he said.
The Defence Minister stressed that the progress of a nation depends not merely on the technologies it develops, but also on the quality, reliability and security of the systems it builds. In defence applications, including missiles, aircraft, naval platforms and spacecraft, quality is not merely a manufacturing requirement but an essential element of operational reliability and national security, he said.
He noted that the field of Non-Destructive Evaluation is itself undergoing a major technological transformation. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robotics, Advanced Sensors, Digital Twins, and Predictive Analytics are significantly expanding the possibilities of inspection and structural health monitoring. These technologies can improve the speed and consistency of inspections, assist in analysing complex data and identify patterns that may not be easily detectable through conventional methods, he said.
Rajnath Singh observed that the future lies in the intelligent integration of these proven inspection techniques with advanced digital technologies. Such integration can make inspection processes more accurate, efficient and responsive to emerging industrial requirements.
“India must not limit itself to merely adopting these technologies. We must also develop indigenous solutions tailored to our strategic and industrial requirements. By investing in research, advanced equipment, software and skilled manpower, we can strengthen our domestic capabilities and develop technologies that can find demand in international markets as well,” he said.
“We must strengthen our indigenous capabilities in advanced inspection technologies, specialised sensors, evaluation equipment and associated software. Developing domestic capabilities in these areas is essential for reducing technological dependencies and securing critical defence supply chains. We must promote consistent quality assurance practices across the entire defence industrial ecosystem. Public Sector Undertakings, private manufacturers, start-ups and MSMEs have an important role to play in this endeavour. We must ensure that inspection results are accurate, reliable and traceable, and are based on robust procedures and appropriate standards followed by assessment by qualified professionals,” he added.
Highlighting India’s growing indigenous defence ecosystem, Rajnath Singh cited achievements in missile development, naval platforms, aerospace engineering, radar systems and space applications as reflections of the expanding scientific and industrial capabilities of the nation. He described the commissioning of India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, as an important milestone in the Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey.
–IANS
