PTI By

NEW DELHI: DRDO plans to make the country "missile import free" by 2022, the defence research agency has told the Prime Minister's Office.

"Our target is to make India missile-import free by the year 2022. This means that we need not import any missile in terms of air-to-ground, surface-to-air or the air-to-air missiles," DRDO chief Avinash Chander told PTI.

"We have shared our vision with the Prime Minister's Office and the government at the top-level," he said.

The DRDO chief said over the years, the country has already developed an expertise in the field of strategic missiles such as the Agni and Prithvi missiles which have now been inducted into the armed forces.

After the imposition of ban on Indian military research establishments, India attained the know-how and developed strategic missile systems indigenously with very little or negligible equipment being imported from outside the country for them.

He said a number of missile development programmes were on where DRDO was working to make missiles to replace the imported systems. The systems being developed include the air-to-air Astra missile, 1,500km-range Nirbhay sub-sonic cruise missile and the BMP-mounted Nag anti-tank guided missile system.

To a query on the export prospects of indigenous systems, Chander said the government has to evolve a policy in this regard.

He said DRDO was of the view that private sector firms should be given the responsibility of developing equipment based on the technology provided by it and also market it abroad.

DRDO has plans to export its fully-developed equipment such as the Pragati missile, which was showcased recently in foreign military exhibitions in countries such as South Korea, the Akash missile system and the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.