New Delhi:
India's military development has to be capability-specific and not country-specific as such an approach would draw it into an arms race, IAF chief P V Naik said on Friday amid concerns over military build-up by Pakistan and China.
"We have to be capability specific.... We have realised that being country-specific or threat-specific will lead us into an arms race," the Air Chief Marshal said at a
CII event here.
Defence Minister A K Antony had recently said that India's neighbours were building their military capabilities at a "feverish pace" and the country has to be vigilant and prepared at all times to meet the challenge.
When asked to comment on army chief's statement terming Pakistan and China as irritants for India's security,
Naik said the military of any country looks at the entire security environment and all the factors affecting its growth and it can't have country-specific plans.
"The plans have to be capability-specific and you have to decide that in 2022, we should have a particular capability because the country would need it and you continue developing your forces on those lines," he added.
Earlier in the day, Army chief General VK Singh had described Pakistan and China as "two major irritants" for India's security and said the armed forces should ensure the country has a "substantial" conventional war capability to fight in a nuclear scenario.
Meanwhile speaking at the event to launch the brochure for the forthcoming 'Energising Indian Aerospace: Achievements and Future Strategies' seminar, the IAF chief said efforts have been made to indigenise the aerospace sector but the
progress has been a very "restrained" one.
"It seems that it is a design that we have to be dependent on others for our needs," Naik added.
He further stated that the defence production policy is in the pipeline with the prime objective of creating a level playing field for the private industry.
Naik said the private sector should also be involved in the research and development activities.
"Private sector entrepreneurship and innovation can help augmentation of research and development base and creation of system integration capabilities," he added.