'Academia, industry collaboration must to meet war challenges'

Deputy Chief of Army Staff (P&S) Lt. Gen. Subrata Saha on Thursday said collaboration between industry and academia is needed to cross the hurdles of modern warfare.

"With the collaboration of industry and academia, the Indian Army would be able to cross these hurdles," said Lt. Gen. Saha while addressing an "International Seminar on Armoured Fighting Vehicles: Enabling Technologies 2017", organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry here.

He expressed confidence that India would win every war with Indian solutions.

"Indian Army is currently looking at upgradation of all its systems and to that end, interactions with the industry and academia have been stepped up. The results of these efforts have manifested in the increase in number of RFIs (Request for Information) and EoIs (Expressions of Interest)," he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Lt. Gen. A.B. Shivane, Director General, Directorate General of Mechanised Forces, said the character of the future battlefield mandated a combined effort of all the three arms of the defence forces, along with combat vehicles, artillery guns, combat aviation and mobile air defence, and the ability to communicate between all the assets through a specialised military network.

Dwelling on the operational environment of armed forces, Lt. Gen. Shivane, said the Indian operational environment was defined by turbulent borders and therefore, it was essential to find Indian solutions for the needs of the Indian Army.

He also enumerated the opportunities for the Indian industry in manufacturing equipment for the army and asked it to adhere to promise and delivery in terms of competence and time.

--IANS

rs/nir/dg