This Article is From Mar 07, 2024

"Emerging Technologies No Longer Superpower-Centric": Army Chief's Top Quotes

Army Chief General Manoj Pande was addressing the NDTV Defence Summit.

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India News
Army Chief General Manoj Pande said that unprecedented changes are taking place in the geopolitical landscape as he made a push for a self-reliant and future-ready Indian Army.
  1. We are working on 45 niche technologies and 120 indigenous projects which have implications for the military. The Indian Army's vision is to transform into a modern, agile, adaptive, technology enabled, future-ready force capable to deter and win wars in a multi-domain operational environment to protect our national interest. 

  2. No country will share the latest technology with us. The country has a vibrant, capable and productive technology ecosystem... Swadeshikaran (indigenisation) se sashaktikaran (empowerment) is a work in progress. All sectors have a crucial role to play. It is essential to develop core competencies.

  3. The geopolitical landscape today is characterised by unprecedented changes taking place at a fast speed and scale. The centrality of national interest and the growing salience of national security in the international system are distinctly visible. 

  4. The geopolitical landscape today is characterised by unprecedented changes taking place at a fast speed and scale. The centrality of national interest and the growing salience of national security in the international system are distinctly visible. 

  5. While conventional war has undergone rapid technological progression, disruptive technologies are transforming the character of modern wars and blunting the conventional combat ratios, which was the measure of (a) military's strength and superiority in the past. 

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  7. Warfare has also transcended into new domains, such as cyber, electromagnetic spectrum, information and space. Emerging technologies are no longer superpower-centric.

  8. Non-state actors are increasingly gaining access to modern technologies of military use and employing them for leverage, asymmetric at that, in conflict. The fallout is an increased propensity for risk-taking behaviour and a low threshold for initiation of armed conflicts.

  9. Amidst all of the above, our legacy challenges of unsettled borders continue. Newer threats in the conflict spectrum have added to the complexity. Greyzone actions and aggressions via adversaries is manifesting across multiple domains, including the military, that is on the air, land and maritime space. Proxy-war is one such manifestation of this threat that we have been combating for years now.

  10. Consequent to all these developments, the battle space has become more complex, contested and lethal, and shall remain so in the the future. 

  11. Centres of excellence have been established in our institutions, including a 5G lab and an artificial intelligence lab, among others. We are in the process of producing an AI roadmap. We are also exploring 5G communications and its use in training and operations.

  12. Our technological prowess has been a driver for global tech. The government has taken initiatives to promote an effective ecosystem in the country, enabling simplification of industry licensing, foreign investment liberalisation, dedicated R&D projects, establishment of defence corridors and others.
     

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