Necessary for us to have technologically updated force, says Navy Chief

Indian Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh on Tuesday stressed on the need of having a technologically up-to-date force and said that maintaining the right technological mix is crucial.

Addressing a seminar at the 41st DRDO Directors' Conference here, Singh said, "Both warfare and technology is synonymous. When we speak of warfare, it is changing at a rapid pace because it is being driven by technology. It is very necessary for us to have a technologically up-to-date force. For us, maintaining the right technological mix is crucial."

He said that the DRDO is "extremely important" to the Navy for maintaining the technological edge which is crucial to naval warfare.

Underlining the need to leapfrog in technology, the Navy Chief listed three suggestions.

"One is that impetus has to be on niche technology. Second, we must take a closer look at models such as DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) in the US. Third, we need to encourage small-time innovators," Singh said.

"To my mind, ideally the Navy must have a small percentage of slightly vintage systems for the bulk of the systems to be contemporary and another small percentage would comprise of cutting-edge technology which is being incubated or imbibed into the service," he added.

Thanking the DRDO for its support over the years, Singh said that the research agency has an important role in helping the Navy get the right mix of technological and force levels.

"DRDO and Navy have got together and have had many success stories. These are the results born out of close cooperation in the long-relationship together. We have had some success stories in joint developments including the BrahMos missile," the Navy Chief said.

Singh outlined that the Navy is committed to indigenisation and self-reliance.

He further said, "In the sensor domain, we have got the substantial capability not too far behind contemporary technologies. In the basic weapon system, we have made good progress, but it is in the state-of-art weapon systems and ordnance that is still work in progress. I request the DRDO to focus on this aspect.