Article Posted on : - Nov 29, 2024

CDS Anil Chauhan during the Winter session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. A PTI Photo

NEW DELHI (PTI): As India marches on the path of progress and prosperity, self-reliance and indigenous defence capabilities are the foundations to enduring peace, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan has said.

Today, India is at the centre stage of global optimism. We have become the fifth largest economy in the world," he said.

"As we march ahead on the path of progress and prosperity, we believe that self-reliance and indigenous defence capabilities are the foundations to enduring peace," Gen Chauhan said.

The Chief of Defence Staff was addressing a conference on Thursday organised jointly by the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies and Indian Military Review.

"India's security landscape necessitates a robust and self-reliant defence sector," he said.

Gen Chauhan underscored that a common thread that binds all stakeholders is "national interest".

The whole enterprise of indigenisation will not succeed if the glue of national interest does not bind all the elements, he said.

The Chief of Defence Staff also highlighted various initiatives rolled out by the government in the past few years to boost self-reliance in the defence sector.

"India has opened up its defence industry through reforms. It has opened it up for private industry, joint ventures, FDI, etc. But, we are yet to fully open up our minds," he said.

"To really succeed, we will have to imbibe the '4Is and be -- innovative, inventive, indigenous and imaginative," Gen Chauhan said.

He suggested the formulation of defence policies in emerging technologies like space, AI, quantum and autonomous systems that give direction to the industry as to how the services see the future unfolding.

Over 200 companies and 100 officers from the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces, dealing with technology and procurement, are participating in the two-day event.

The event is designed to bring together government and business stakeholders and to facilitate strategic engagements through a series of targeted business-to-government (B2G) and business-to-business (B2B) meetings.

On the sidelines of the event, an exhibition by 75 companies is being organised to showcase what the industry has to offer for building the nation's defence capabilities.