New Delhi, Oct 13 — Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday held talks with Czech Republic Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlicek here with the two sides reviewing the full spectrum of bilateral defence industrial cooperation and agreeing to expand collaboration in the sector.
The meeting took place amid India's broader efforts to strengthen defence manufacturing capabilities under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative while deepening partnerships with trusted international partners.
"Had a wonderful meeting with the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Karel Havlicek in New Delhi today," the minister said in a post on X.
According to the Defence Minister, the two leaders reviewed progress achieved in defence industrial cooperation and expressed satisfaction over the success of ongoing joint ventures between Indian and Czech entities.
"We were pleased to note the progress and success of various Joint Ventures. We also agreed to further expand this collaboration under the aegis of India-Czech Joint Defence Committee, to promote Atmanirbhar Bharat," Singh added.
Earlier in October, the minister said the presence of participating air forces added significant value and expressed hope contingents would return with valuable professional insights and deeper understanding of India's capabilities and perspectives.
He said modern warfare is undergoing profound transformation, extending beyond traditional domains of land, sea and air to encompass space, cyber, electromagnetic spectrum and information domain.
He noted growing influence of unmanned systems, drones, AI, electronic warfare and long-range precision weapons in shaping contemporary operations.
"Future military power will be defined less by number of platforms we possess. It will be determined by speed of sensing, understanding, deciding, and acting," Singh said, adding speed, precision, information and integration have emerged as defining attributes of military capability.
Emphasising need for continuous vigilance amid rapidly changing geopolitical environment, Defence Minister said India under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted Atmanirbharta in defence as national policy.