Chiefs of the Indian Army, Air Force and Coast Guard on Wednesday expressed confidence that it is possible to fight future wars with weapons produced indigenously. Chief of the Indian Army General Manoj Pande categorically told India Today TV, “We can absolutely and undoubtedly win the wars of the future with indigenous weapon systems.”
Lauding the work done by the domestic industry so far, the Army chief said, “Whatever has been produced ingeniously is as good as what is available in the world market.” He said the Russia-Ukraine conflict has “given us profound lessons, made us realize the need to be self-reliant and not depend on any global supply chains to the extent possible.”
Chief of the Indian Air Force Air Marshal V R Chaudhari also agreed that the induction of indigenous weapons was the only way to remain self reliant in times of conflict. Asked if the IAF was confident of fighting future wars with indigenous weapons, he said: “We have to keep taking these big strides…we have got a long-term and immediate plan towards meeting requirements of all weapon systems through indigenous production.”
Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Satish Guormade also stated, “The vision of the Prime Minister can be achieved very much the way this DefExpo is being organized and the progress it has made in the last two to three years in this direction.” He said the weapons produced by the domestic industry are yielding good results and the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was one such example. The Navy Vice Chief said the Indian Navy is fully supportive of the Make in India initiative of the defence sector and is working round-the-clock to implement it in the service.
Army chief General Pande said in Make II category, the Indian Army has 43 projects worth about Rs 27,000 crore, in which about 187 industries are participating.
“The projects largely peratin to improving our intelligence and surveillance capabilities. We are also looking at projects that will help to build our artificial intelligence capabilities,” said Pande.
IAF chief listed the indigenous trainer aircraft HTT-40, which was unveiled by Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi at the Defexpo saying that it will meet future requirements. “We have new generation of ‘AKASH’ missiles. We have long-term and immediate plans to fulfill requirements of weapon system through indigenous sources,” he said. (India Today)
