HYDERABAD: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday called for making India not merely a user of advanced technologies, but also a developer, innovator and global leader in critical domains, emphasising the need to strengthen the country's Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) ecosystem to enhance defence preparedness and self-reliance, IANS reported. He virtually addressed the 36th Annual Conference on Non-Destructive Evaluation and Enabling Technologies and the 15th International Symposium on Non-Destructive Testing in Aerospace, organised by the Indian Society for Non-Destructive Testing in Hyderabad from November 15 to 17.

Source: IANS via hi INDiA

Singh said there can be no compromise on the integrity of testing results in strategic applications, and that inspection results must be accurate, reliable and traceable, based on robust procedures and assessment by qualified professionals. NDT lets engineers examine materials, components and structures without damaging them — he compared it to ultrasound and X-rays examining the human body without surgery, according to IANS.

Source: Nation Press

2,000+Professionals, researchers and students at the Hyderabad conference
36thAnnual NDE conference, held with the 15th AeroNDT symposium
Nov 15-17Conference dates at Hyderabad

"Hidden defects can affect operational availability, increase maintenance requirements, reduce the service life of equipment and, in critical situations, jeopardise mission success. We need to move beyond a culture of merely identifying defects towards actively preventing them by embedding quality at every stage of the manufacturing process," Singh said, as reported by IANS. In defence applications — missiles, aircraft, naval platforms and spacecraft — quality is an element of operational reliability and national security, he added.

The Defence Minister said AI, Machine Learning, Robotics, Advanced Sensors, Digital Twins and Predictive Analytics are transforming inspection and structural health monitoring, and urged India to develop indigenous solutions — advanced inspection technologies, specialised sensors, evaluation equipment and software — rather than only adopting foreign ones, with Public Sector Undertakings, private manufacturers, start-ups and MSMEs all playing a role. He cited advances in missiles, naval platforms, aerospace, radar and space, and described the commissioning of India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, as an important milestone in the Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey, IANS reported.