NEW DELHI: The Indian Army and the Department of Defence Production are deliberating on the issue of equipment being inducted into the Army that do not contain Chinese electronic parts and a methodology is being worked out so that this does not take place in future.
Major General CS Mann on Wednesday said that "the deliberations are on both in the service and at the department of defence production." Without committing any timeline General Mann said that "appropriate methodology of ascertaining this particular aspect will come into effect in near future."
"It's a live issue and the government has also taken some actions for this in the recent past. There are methods to identify Chinese equipment and we do not permit them to be part of this equipment.", added Maj Gen, Additional Director General, Army Design Bureau, Indian Army.
Mann was speaking during the unveiling of the Curtain Raiser of the Indian Army's two future events; 'Him-Drone-A-Thon 2' and 'Himtech-2024' designed to harness military technologies for operations in high altitude areas.
The events are being held in Leh under the Northern Command to give the feel of the High Altitude and its peculiarities. The command looks after the Areas of Kashmir and Ladakh having both Chinese and Pakistan frontiers.
Adding on the danger of Chinese parts, not only electronic components, but hardware as well Gen. Mann said that with the electronic part the potential is there of data being transferred. "And anything which can be done with data being remotely is where the vulnerability lies," he said. Recently the Army has put on hold the contract of a drone company that was using Chinese parts.
The point unanimously agreed by Mann and Ashish Kansal is that the supply chains are dependent on Chinese components.
Ashish Kansal, Co-Chair of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Drones Committee, said, "Industry is making conscious efforts to make sure no electronic component from China is part of any systems because that's where the real issues are cropping up. Otherwise, China is part of the Global supply chain today. So, whether equipment from China goes to the US and then comes to India, it is very difficult even for the industry to comprehend this."
Coming to solutions, other than precluding the equipment with Chinese parts "the best way to sort of take out Chinese is to make sure that we increase the indigenous content in our systems and keep increasing it so that our indigenous capability develops because there are two advantages, not just china you are not dependent on any country of the world. Because today we are talking of China, tomorrow we will talk of some other country."
Induction of drones is part of a broader modernisation effort by the Indian Army to prepare for future conflicts as drones provide a significant edge in such conflicts by enhancing situational awareness, enabling rapid and precise targeting and supporting versatile mission profiles, from conventional warfare to counter-terrorism and peacekeeping operations.
Speaking at the event Maj Gen P S Bhatti, Major General General Staff (Staff Duties & Capability Development) of the Northern Command of Army impressed that the most important impact of technology on warfare is that it has changed the paradigms of contemporary war fighting concepts. "In the Indian context, technology has played an important role in streamlining, evolving and upscaling existing tactics, training and procedures. With the advent of disruptive technology, the rules of the game are changing by the day, thereby making it imperative for us to evolve and indigenise at a faster pace to mitigate operational challenges and achieve 'Raksha Atmanirbharta'," he said.
For Him Drone A Thon 2, as of now 25 Drone firms have confirmed their participation along with around 70 companies confirming for Himtech 24.
Him-Drone-A-Thon 2 will take place at Wari La, near Leh on 17-18 September 2024. It will be followed by Himtech on 20-21 September, an event conceptualised to discuss, demonstrate and discover new avenues for the development, incorporation and cross-pollination of technology, ideas and innovations with a focus on harnessing military technologies for high-altitude areas.
Army Design Bureau
The Indian Army's Make in India initiative is spearheaded by the Army Design Bureau (ADB). The role of ADB is to undertake technology scan, identify technologies for acquisition and development, facilitate R&D efforts with Industry, Academia, DRDO & DPSUs, provide inputs and enable them to understand user requirements while initiating cases of design & development with the industry, all with the aim of promoting indigenisation.