Pune: Armed Forces Need To Be Ready To Undertake Operations At Very Short Notice – Southern Army Commander Lt Gen Nain

Mubarak Ansari

Pune, 21st March 2022: The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, Lieutenant General JS Nain today addressed a Maratha Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) seminar as Chief Guest. The event was also attended by senior dignitaries of Headquarters Southern Command and members of the Army’s Regional Technology Node.

The event apart from the interaction between various stakeholders also hosted an interesting display of indigenously produced defence products.

Addressing the gathering, which also included heads of industry, MCCIA officials and members from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Army Commander stressed the urgent need to shift towards indigenisation of defence production, especially in the light of recent global events.

He said that the Armed Forces need to be ready to undertake operations at very short notice and that conventional warfare should be supplemented by contemporary technologies such as Nanotechnology, Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Unmanned and Robotic Systems amongst others. He stressed that indigenisation would help resolve our own security needs and project the nation as a producer of weapon systems.

The General mentioned that the Rules of Doing Business have been simplified and various initiatives are taken by the government to introduce newer regulations to assist industry, fast track Research & Development (R&D) and procurement procedures. In addition, new changes to the Defence Acquisition Procedure and a significant increase in budget allocation under ‘Atmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) in defence have been announced which will give a much-desired fillip to defence procurement. He touched upon the various routes through which the defence industry could engage with the Armed Forces and urged them to nurture MSMEs and Tier I and II suppliers to strengthen our industrial base.