Dr Saraswat said the country was self-sufficient in missile technology and had the necessary technological wherewithal to produce various classes of missiles for the three defence services. He was speaking to news persons here.

Dr Saraswat also said that the need of the hour was to gear up the Indian industry, both private and public sector, to take up integration of missiles so that these systems could be produced in required volumes.

Significantly, he also said the country could even emerge as an exporter of some of the missile systems such as Akash and Nag. While Akash is an advanced medium range air defence system the Nag is an advanced anti-tank missile.

He clarified that domestic needs of the armed services would have to be first met before any exports of these systems could be considered. ''We do have requests and we can think about it only after meeting domestic requirements'' he said.