NEW DELHI: From hypersonic missiles and stealth bomber drones to AI-driven weapon systems, high-power lasers and nuclear-propelled warships, the defence ministry has released another wish list for the domestic industry to focus on over the next 15 years.The new ‘Technology Perspective Capability Roadmap’ conveys the key requirements of the over 14-lakh strong armed forces and their views on emerging futuristic combat technologies. “This will enable our private industry to step up R&D efforts, build production lines and assemblies to meet the requirements in a desired timeframe,” it said.As per the roadmap, which specifies over 200 weapon systems and futuristic technologies, the armed forces require around 150 stealth unmanned combat aerial vehicles, among other types of drones, and over 500 hypersonic missiles with scramjet propulsion in the coming years as well as measures to counter them.The Navy wants nuclear-propulsion for at least 10 of its future warships, including an aircraft carrier, and 20 high-endurance autonomous underwater vehicles for anti-submarine warfare. The Army, in turn, requires 1,700-1,800 next-generation main-battle tanks as well as 400 light tanks for mountain warfare, while the IAF wants 20 stratospheric airships for surveillance, intelligence-gathering and communications, among other capabilities.Most of the capabilities listed out in the new roadmap are already known but presented in a consolidated format for the industry as a ready reckoner. “The cardinal need to embrace self-reliance (Atmanirbharata) along all stages of design and development cannot be further stressed upon,” the roadmap stated.