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Accepting that deployment of China’s PLA along the northern borders as one of the crises posing challenge to India, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan said the armed forces are capable of maintaining legitimacy of Indian’s claim and peace in the region.
General Chauhan, who was at Pune on Tuesday for the passing out parade of the 144th course of the National Defence Academy (NDA), spoke about the deployment of China’s PLA along the northern borders but assured that the Indian armed forces were taking all kinds of steps to keep borders safe.
“We see the war in Europe, the deployment of China’s PLA along the northern borders and geo-political crisis in neighbouring countries. These crises present a challenge to India, but the armed forces are capable of maintaining the legitimacy of India’s claims and peace in the region,” he said.
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New revolution
Chauhan also stated that a “new revolution in military affairs”, mostly driven by technology was taking place and that theaterisation was also on the cards.
“...Armed forces of India are also on the path of a major transformation, jointness, integration and creation of theaterised commands are on the anvil,” he told the gathering.
He congratulated the first batch of women cadets passing out from the NDA for breaking into male-dominated service. “ I congratulate women cadets for breaking into this male bastion. I’m glad that you have chosen to shoulder equal responsibilities as your male brothers to defend national interests,” he stated.
On Manipur violence, the CDS said that the situation in the North-Eastern State is “not related to insurgency” and it’s a clash between two ethnicities, despite the State CM N Biren Singh on Sunday said that as many as 40 “terrorists” were killed by security forces so far.
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Exports
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence said that India’s defence exports have reached an all-time high, surging from ₹686 crore in FY 2013-14 to nearly ₹16,000 crore in FY 2022-23, which is a 23-times jump.
“This remarkable 23-fold increase reflects India’s progress in the global defence manufacturing sector. With exports reaching more than 85 countries, India’s defence industry has shown its capability of design and development to the world, with 100 firms exporting defence products at present,” the ministry officially stated.
Recently, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also stated that the defence production figure had crossed ₹1-lakh crore, an off-shoot of a number of policy initiatives and reforms undertaken over the last nine years.
The expenditure on defence procurement from foreign source has reduced from 46 per cent in 2018-19 to 36.7 per cent in December 2022, the ministry said.
India now exports a wide range of major platforms, including aircraft like the Dornier-228, artillery guns, Brahmos missiles, Pinaka rockets and launchers, radars, simulators, armoured vehicles. The global demand for India’s indigenous products, such as the LCA-Tejas, LCA, aircraft carriers and MRO activities, is also on the rise.
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