Directives to Defense Manufacturers
In October, General N S Raja Subramani, India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), addressed defense manufacturers in New Delhi with a directive to reverse traditional procurement dynamics. He instructed companies to "come up with an innovative product that we are compelled to buy, or which we need to buy," emphasizing the necessity to "Create the demand first."[1]
General Subramani stated that it is time for defence forces and industry to collaborate as "industry partners" rather than maintaining a traditional supplier-vendor relationship.[2] To support this shift, he outlined the armed forces’ commitment to provide a clear demand signal for the next five to seven years. This signal would be aligned with a technology capability roadmap already established in the Technology Perspective Capability Roadmap.[3]
The "Build First" Model and Anduril
Baba Kalyani, chairman and managing director of Bharat Forge, highlighted diverging global trends in defense development. He stated that the United States is moving towards innovation while Europe focuses on building capacity, placing India somewhere in between.[4]
Kalyani cited the concept of Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey to "Build first, then offer."[5] According to reports, Luckey built his company "as a product company and not as a contract company," developing products with venture capital funds before selling them to military clients.[6] This approach reverses the traditional order where armed forces fix requirements before industry builds them.[7]
General Subramani referenced Anduril’s entry into the US defence-industrial complex as an example of this model. He stated that Anduril succeeded by building software called Lattice, which was better than existing options and could work with existing systems.[8] Anduril supplies drones, artificial-intelligence software, and augmented-reality headsets to the US and its allies.[9]
The financial scale of this model is significant. In May 2026, Anduril secured a $5 billion funding round that doubled its valuation to $61 billion.[10]
Accelerated Development Cycles
The urgency for such innovative models is underscored by the rapid evolution of warfare technology. The French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) reported that aerial drones in the war between Russia and Ukraine passed through eight phases of development in just four years.[11] These systems evolved from basic reconnaissance aids into advanced weapon systems, partly coordinated by artificial intelligence.[12]