New Delhi, Nov 15: 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, as he emphasised the need to strengthen the country’s non-destructive testing ecosystem for better preparedness and self-reliance.
He virtually addressed the 36th Annual Conference on Non-Destructive Evaluation & Enabling Technologies and the 15th International Symposium on Non-Destructive Testing in Aerospace.
Singh 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.
He asserted that there can be no compromise on the integrity of testing results in strategic applications.
“We must strengthen our indigenous capabilities in advanced inspection technologies, specialised sensors, evaluation equipment and associated software,” the minister asserted.
“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,” he said.
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,” the defence minister said.
The three-day conference, organised by the Indian Society for Non-Destructive Testing in Hyderabad, Telangana, has brought together over 2,000 professionals, researchers, industry experts and students to deliberate on the latest advancements, emerging technologies and applications in non-destructive testing (NDT), the defence ministry said.
Singh stressed that the 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.
Singh 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.
Singh 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.
Emphasising the strategic significance of the sector, Singh said that for a country aspiring to achieve technological leadership, the importance of NDT cannot be overstated. He asserted that India’s pursuit of “Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance)” in defence is not merely an economic objective but also a strategic necessity.
Underscoring the importance of keeping pace with the rapidly changing global security environment, Singh said indigenous weapons, platforms and supporting systems “must deliver the highest levels of reliability and performance at all times”.
He urged professionals associated with the NDT sector to continuously upgrade their capabilities and keep the spirit of innovation alive in sync with emerging technologies and evolving security requirements.
On the technological transformation underway in the field of non-destructive evaluation, he stressed that 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, he said, can improve the speed and consistency of inspections, facilitate the analysis of complex data and identify patterns that may not be easily detectable through conventional methods.
Singh emphasised that the future lies in the intelligent integration of established inspection techniques with advanced digital technologies to make inspection processes more accurate, efficient and responsive to emerging industrial requirements.
The minister called upon India to move beyond merely adopting these technologies and develop indigenous solutions tailored to its strategic and industrial requirements. Investment in research, advanced equipment, software and skilled manpower would strengthen domestic capabilities and enable Indian technologies to find markets internationally, he said.
