Newspaper interviews and quotes, with links to the originals at each publication.
“…from a licence into a collaboration.”
Called the fully indigenous AK-203 Sher “a significant industrial achievement”, backed by a supply chain of more than a hundred MSMEs. He cautioned that it is not a design achievement, since the intellectual property and export freedom remain with the Kalashnikov joint venture.
Said final approval of the TKMS submarine deal hinges on whether the technology Germany hands over is extensive enough to justify the price. Integrating Indian specifications with Mazagon Dock would turn the project “from a licence into a collaboration”.
Said India’s failure in aero-engines was never a shortage of good engineers, but the absence of anyone willing to fund forgings, single-crystal casting, coatings and test rigs over a fifteen-year payback horizon.
Said the BrahMos and Akashteer talks with the UAE were “materially bigger and more strategically loaded” than India’s earlier export deals. Indian equipment appeals because it is competitively priced and comes with fewer political strings than American or French systems.
Called the Great Nicobar project one of the more consequential strategic bets India has made in recent decades. The infrastructure shifts the calculus in any future stand-off, “even if neither side ever fires a shot”.
Said an EU trade pact would give Indian textiles, footwear and pharmaceuticals a real lift by removing EU tariffs of 12 to 16 per cent. On defence, he expected cooperation to stay niche and country by country, with France and Germany.
On geopolitics, defence, European security and India–Germany relations.
