Gandhinagar: Discerning that the Russia-Ukraine war has shown the need to cut dependence on foreign suppliers, Army chief Gen Manoj Pande Thursday said indigenous weapon system is the way forward and that orders worth Rs 8 lakh crore will be placed with Indian companies in the next 7-8 years.
He noted Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) – which includes drones, mobility solutions in forward areas especially the mountains, special armaments like loitering munitions and Artificial Intelligence and encrypted communication – as primary thrust areas for him and the Army.
“The Russia-Ukraine conflict has taught us a lot. One of the things had been on how to be more self-sufficient and not to have foreign dependence even when it comes to sustenance, including ammunition,” Gen Pande said responding to a query by ThePrint, during an interaction with select journalists on the sidelines of DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar.
He said the Army has already taken steps towards indigenisation of ammunition while also looking at alternative sources of procurement when it comes to spare parts.
“Indigenous systems are the way forward. In the last 3-4 years, our indigenous procurement has grown three times. In the next 7-8 years, we expect to place about Rs 7-8 crore of orders with Indian firms,” he said.
Gen Pande, who believes that future wars will have to be fought on indigenous systems, said that last year the Army had placed orders worth Rs 47,000 crore with Indian firms.
He underlined that the fourth round of emergency procurement powers, extended to the Services by the government, is exclusively for indigenous systems.
The Army chief noted that in the last three rounds of emergency powers – under which the Services can close procurement deals within Rs 300 crore each without going through the tiring and long winded regular process – the Army had inked deals worth about Rs 6,000 crore.
He also said that emergency powers vested are good for the Services because they cater to their immediate requirements and give them an opportunity to test in field the systems before going in for larger acquisition through the Capital Budget route.
Seeking to allay fears about the focus on indigenisation affecting the preparedness of the armed forces, Gen Pande pointed out that the Indian defence industry has come up with a lot of multiple solutions with capability to deliver in the needed time frame. (rephrased para)
“I would say that to modernise, we need to indigenise. This focus on indigenisation is not an impediment but an opportunity,” he said.
The Army chief said that design, development and manufacturing of defence systems have four foundations – resource allocation, enabling policies, viable market and competition.
“I see the role of the Army as a facilitator of executing government policy and creating a viable market,” he said.
He said that the Army is hand holding a number of private firms working in niche technology while also easing out trial periods, making firing ranges available among others.
“This cannot be a buyer-seller relationship. It has to be a partnership,” he said.
Gen Pande said that the Army is already inducting new long range rockets systems, software defined radios which are less prone to jamming, drones, see through armour and other new technology.
Also read: UAE firm ties up with Indian company to sell rifles after losing out on Army’s mega carbine deal