₹25,000-crore worth of projects are under design and development phase: Army chief

The Chief of Army Staff, General Manoj Pande, said 39 projects worth ₹25,000 crore are under the design and development phase of the Innovation In Defence Excellence (IDEX) scheme, which the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has created for achieving self-reliance toward military requirements.

During an interaction with media at South Block, the new army chief acknowledged the need to cut down dependence on military imports when felt during the assessment of the Russian-Ukraine war. He said that India is dependent on both the nations for some weapon and air defence systems.

According to General Pande, the government and MoD have taken many initiatives to encourage domestic private industry and start ups to participate in the opportunities created through the Make in India programme.

"To encourage new start ups and to encourage private industry to come forward, I must mention in the sphere of IDEX (Innovation in Defence Excellence), we already have 39 projects which have already been or which are already in the process, and these are under the design and development scheme to the tune of almost ₹25,000 crore," said the army chief.

The Army Design Bureau has also been created as the single point of contact to facilitate interaction with the private industry. "We have taken number of other steps in terms of hand holding the new start ups and the results are already evident. We have in the areas of drone technology, counter-drone technology, in the areas of software defined radios etc where already the role of private industry in the field niche technology has come to the fore and were very hopeful that in the future it will be a win win situation for both, the military as well as private industry now that the right conditions have been created".

On takeaways from the Russia-Ukraine war

To answer a query on different takeaways from the Russia-Ukraine war, he said, the foremost was the “relevance of conventional warfare still remains” as various platforms like tanks and guns were seen in the conflict theatre. It also corrects the notion that wars necessarily may not be “short and shift, it could be “prolonged”, he elaborated on the lessons drawn.

"So far, immediate impact is concerned, yes the supply chain of our spares and certain ammunition has got impacted to some extent, but I would say we had adequate stocks to last for a reasonable period of time in the immediate future. We are also looking at certain other mitigating factor, identifying alternative sources amongst our friendly foreign countries and I think in the long term this is also an opportunity for our private industry to step up and involve themselves in manufacture or production of some of these spares and armaments..," he stressed.

India was dependent specifically on air defence, rockets, missiles and others on Russia and Ukraine, he stated. The war has made India realise, the army general believes, the importance of non-contact and kinetic warfare reflected in the battle of narratives.

The country will have to keep a watch on the position of adversaries in the new world order, which is emerging due to prolonged ongoing war. His feared that the situation in Afghanistan and Indo-Pacific region may not get "diverted" the way what is happening in Russia-Ukrain war.

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