Batting for fast-tracking of procurement of high-tech equipment and products for the armed forces, Chief of Army Staff Bipin Rawat said on Thursday future warfare will become more complex and technologically sophisticated.
“Future wars are going to be complex. The nature of warfare is rapidly changing. In a country like ours, we will continue to be faced with sub-conventional or non-traditional forms of warfare. But armed forces have to remain prepared for conventional warfare along our borders ... We have to rapidly keep pace with the changing technologies before they become obsolete,” Rawat said at DEFCOM 2017 organised by CII.
He said, as a result, the government has to ensure that high-tech products that are required by the armed forces have to be procured on a fast-track basis so that they do not become obsolete by the time the army acquires it. This is because defence procurement takes decades to fructify.
The army chief also underlined the need for faster field trials of the products so that the entire process of procuring the product does not slow down.
“Whatever we have to induct must be done through fast-track procedures otherwise they will become obsolete very soon. But for that to happen it is important that we are able identify the correct type of technology and equipment that is to be inducted into the armed forces. We have to ensure that the trial procedures do not linger for long and finally that we are able to identify a partner who is willing to support the ‘Make In India’ initiative of the government and that of the armed forces,” he added.
The Army Chief said technology has to be imbibed in the army in a way that it is more sophisticated and easy to carry and operate by the armed personnel even as he highlighted that the products should be compatible to all weather conditions.
He said the Army Design Bureau has been created so as to establish an interface between the army and the industry.
Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre, who was also addressing the conference, said proliferation of the digital army is the government’s topmost priority.
He said that will also enable the planned integration of the tri-services in the future.