India has reduced its missile production turnaround time from 10-12 years to 2-3 years, making a huge leap in technology, said Dr G Satheesh Reddy, president of the Aeronautical Society of India and former secretary to the Directorate of Defence Research & Development and chairman of DRDO. “This enables us to stand on a par with developed countries like the US, Russia and China, though these countries are one to two decades ahead of us,” he told TOI on the sidelines of a programme in Coimbatore on Saturday.

“India is a missile power. India is actively developing hypersonic missiles and air-to-ground-borne missiles like the BrahMos,” he said.

He said India had 300-400 drone manufacturing companies with nearly 25,000 AI engineers in the southern region. They are capable of making the world use products made in India, he said. “So far, India was working for others, getting their products. Now India has to make them get our products and also get them to work for us.”

Earlier, addressing at the Academia-Industry Meet 2025 for Aerospace & Defence, hosted by the Kumaraguru Centre for Industrial Research & Innovation in association with the Aeronautical Society of India, he highlighted four key takeaways from Operation Sindoor. First, the Indian armed forces have gained confidence in indigenous technologies. Second, it boosted the morale of the country. Third, the industry has witnessed success, which will increase orders. Lastly, the world has seen India’s capabilities, which is expected to increase export orders as well.