India cannot afford to lag in tech supremacy race, warns top Army officer

Pointing out that the race for technological supremacy has already begun, Lt Gen Amardeep Singh Aujla, Master General Sustenance (MGS), Army urged the industry to work together with the armed forces to create a secure future for the country.

Addressing an 'Industry Interactive Session' hosted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Delhi on Monday, he said India cannot afford to be just a spectator in this race for technological supremacy.

Lt Gen Aujla told the representatives of various companies from India's defence industry that if the end-user is the armed forces, quality should be the defining factor as "we are working for a national cause". The industry and the armed forces can be "co-creators" of a very secure, robust and dynamic India of the future, he added.

"Global dynamics are changing, India is also changing and so are the armed forces. When we are changing and we have got boots on the ground, we want equal boots on ground on the shop floor as well. So, let us not walk separately, let us march together, let's be comrades in capability development."

Lt Gen Aujla emphasised that India's military power, as far as the future is concerned, "will no longer get decided only in boardrooms and operation rooms, it will now get decided also in R&D labs, on testing grounds and on potency of the industry".

"And, we have to rise, we have to step up, we have to deliver for the national cause. And in that national cause, revenue procurement and sustainability is (are) extremely, extremely important," he added.

Defence