Army Chief Emphasizes At DEFCOM INDIA 2017 To Imbibe Technologies To Keep Pace With Rapid Changes

National Defence Bureau,

New Delhi, 23 March 2017

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat at the inaugural address of DEFCOM India 2017 said that, "digitising Indian Army will help us winning future wars through process of indigenisation. Future wars are going to be complex. The nature of warfare is rapidly changing and we will find that the country like ours, will continue to face sub-conventional or non-traditional forms of warfare. 

He added that despite this, Indian armed forces will have to remain prepared for conventional wars along our borders. 

"It is therefore important that in this complex environment, technology is imbibed by our armed forces in a manner that we rapidly keep pace with the changing technology before it becomes obsolete"

"... But that to happen, we are able to identify the correct type of technology and equipment that is to be inducted into the armed forces. We ensure that our trial procedure do not linger long and finally we are able to choose partners who are willing to support the Make In India initiative of the Government and the armed forces. If you are able to achieve this, I think technology could be imbibed and will be inducted into the armed forces in a faster time frame". 

"We are witnessing a change in a manner in which communication technology is witnessing a change. Cyber threats are there which will continue to bother us, whether we like it or not, social media is gaining momentum and I think it is the adversary who is taking advantage of digitisation in the technology". 

"In the army we have to keep pace with the digitised world. We have to ensure that most of our systems get digitised as early as possible. At the same time we have also to remember that the wars will be fought at the borders ad therefore whatever technologies that we are going to incorporate into our communication systems have to be regularised, light weight, simple based on maintenance requirements that are easily carried out into forward areas". 

"Because most of the trials and displays we witness in the quarters of such seminar halls may not necessarily be workable in the frontline. As I was witnessing the stall, I mentioned that whatever is being displayed has to be deployed on the Sikkim plateue at altitude of 18000 feet, on the borders in Ladakh at temperature ranging between minus 20 to +10 degree in hot summers; in the desert sector when summer temperature can go up to 55 degrees. So in these kind so environment, these technologies has to be imbibed". 

"Secondly, the person who has to man this system has to invariably carry the system on his back. We have to ensure that while  we have vehicle based and heavier HMV based systems we are also able to develop systems which are compatible with the heavier system, which can move with the backpack". 

"Therefore, we have to ensure that systems are developed in such a way, while you have ligher version, but both must talk to each other. At the same time, we have to have the encryption system both for voice and voice for data, because in armed forces we will always be concerned about security of our communication and our systems". 

"Therefore, we have to ensure that the encryption system we have facilitate the working of the system. Facilitate interoperability and we are able to imbibe technology in a manner that suits our armed forces"

Watch the full address at video url: https://youtu.be/ynRqUN4bK78

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