Ahead of Union Budget 2024, Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal AP Singh batted for 'atmanirbharta' in defence, saying 'atmanirbharata' is "not just a buzzword", it is something that all stakeholders need to put their heart and soul into. While addressing at a CAPS seminar in New Delhi, he asserted that "nation's defence comes first and foremost".
Pitching for 'atmanirbharta' in defence, he said the DRDO, private industries and others can bolster armed forces' capabilities in radars, communications and a plethora of other things.
'Atmanirbharata' is "not just a buzzword", it is something that all stakeholders need to put their heart and soul into, and make sure technologies and weapons are developed and manufactured in India, "so that we are not relying on an outside agency who could change its alliance or stop flow of weapons to our country" when the time comes, he said.
In his address, the VCAS pitched for fostering greater 'atmanirbharta' but with a rider. "Atmanirbharta is what we are riding on. Majority of contracts are with Indian partners, Indian industry...But, this atmanirbharta cannot be at the cost of nation's defence. Nation's defence comes first and foremost," he said.
He urged that "we all have to work in unison" and at a "much, much faster pace".
The VCAS in his address also said the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has demonstrated the integration of multiple forces in domains of air, land, sea, cyber, information and space, and how they are "united" to achieve the goal.
"One thing is certain, if we need to do something, we need to stay...in the game, we need to modernise, we need to continue to grow, continue to innovate and we need to continue being ahead of the curve. Otherwise, we lag behind and we are just chasing," Air Marshal Singh said.
Technological advancements, the rapid pace that is being seen in people's normal life, has also "infused themselves into our weaponry, defence systems".
"I am sure everyone present here, including my friends from other services will agree that the air domain has clearly emerged as a singular trans-domain link and strong force across domains, a strong method for cross-domain application of force. It is not just an enabler, it has become a force multiplier," he asserted.
The VCAS also said that in this highly dense battlespace, "we need to put in place plans to have optimal and innovative utilisation of available resources, and at the same we need to ensure we are improving our systems through upgrade or procurement".
Keeping an eye on the future, the IAF has operationalised a dedicated Weapon Systems (WS) Branch and a sub-branch of this is going to be dedicatedly responsible for surface-to-air guided weapons, he added.
