Asserting that indigenisation is the way forward for India, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Bipin Rawat on Friday said India's aspiration of becoming a regional power cannot rely on borrowed strength.
Speaking at the fifth IETE Innovators-Industry meet in Delhi, CDS Rawat gave a call for a self-reliant country and said India cannot be import-dependent to fight and win future wars.
"Our nation's aspiration of becoming a regional power cannot rely on borrowed strength. India's wars have to be won with Indian solutions. We cannot be import-dependent if we have to fight and win future wars. Indigenisation, therefore, is the way forward," he said.
The Chief of Defence Staff also talked about the changing character of warfare and new threats due to technological advancements.
"The pervasiveness of information and pace of technological change is transforming the very character of warfare and providing innovative ways to execute new forms of warfare in the non-contact domain in particular. These include information operations, stealing of intellectual property rights, economic inducements, all backed up by clever propaganda and at times even fake news to justify their actions," said Rawat.
The CDS said that the militarisation of space, cyber-warfare, quantum communications, along the manipulation of social media are all leading to new threats, further complicating the security environment in which we live today.
"Enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing are being used to produce sophisticated autonomous weapons which will accelerate the pace of combat, potentially with destabilising consequences," he said.
Talking about air defence capabilities of Indian armed forces, Rawat said they are at the cusp of modernisation with the "acquisition of Rafales, S-400, BMD system, Akash Weapon System and progressive replacement of the Legacy Air Defence Systems that we have in our inventory today"
"However, keeping in mind the macro-economic parameters and socio-economic requirements of our country, we have to find the best solutions through acquisitions and optimisation/up-gradation of Legacy Systems and indeed through indigenous manufacturing," he said.
He added that India will be able to use its economics or the budgetary allocations made to the armed forces in a better way if the country develops its systems indigenously.
( With inputs from ANI )
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