Armed Forces' plan in public domain

The roadmap of the Indian Armed Forces – the Army, Navy and Air Force – is in the process of being made available on public domain to help private industry know the needs of the forces.

Speaking on the sidelines of an international conference on ‘Electronic Warfare,’ Vice Admiral Shekar Sinha, Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, said: “The Armed Forces’ Long-term Integrated Perspective Plan will be in the public domain soon, it will be put up on the Ministry’s website.”

Noting that the plan would put on paper the needs of all the forces, barring some sensitive issues, for the next decade-and-a-half, he said: “This will help increase private participation. While there is no question on the capabilities of our PSUs, we feel the need for an expansion in the base so as to improve delivery and servicing.”

This information, he opined, would help the private sector in drawing their plans, forming joint ventures, bidding for projects and so on.

He said that the private players would have to comply with the guidelines of the Defence Production Procurement (DPP), which was the process of procurement in the country. Pointing out that there is a gap between research and development (R&D) and the needs of the forces, he said: “The private sector will be able to fill this gap, thereby, providing the PSUs with time and resources to concentrate and focus on niche technologies that will not be given to us by anybody.”

I V Sarma, Director (R&D), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) said: “In the next ten years, we’ll need to do five times more than what we have done in the last decade in areas pertaining to R&D, manufacturing, services and so on.”

G Elangovan, DRDO Chief Controller, Research and Development (Avionics) said: “In the last few years, India has developed a lot of technology, but we are still not comparable to US or Israel. There are demand and supply constraints. Private players can help bridge this gap.”