Army Chief Gen. Manoj Pande stated on Saturday that the nation’s security cannot be outsourced or depending on the “largesse” of others, and that acquiring the necessary military weapons on its own will be crucial to meeting future threats.

During a defence conference, he stated that the Army’s strategic planning to be “future ready” depends on weaning itself off of import dependence for capabilities development requirements.

“We are aware that, in order to meet our capability development goals, we must totally wean ourselves off of import dependence as the nation’s security guardians. In order for our strategic planning to be future-ready, this component is still crucial,” he stated.

“The global conflicts that persist and the Covid-19 pandemic have demonstrated the impact

“The new strategic arena for geopolitical competitions is emerging to be technology.” The effects of relying on outside sources for essential components, interruptions in supply chains, and the weaponization of denial regimes were highlighted by the pandemic and the lessons learned from the current conflicts around the globe, he continued.

“These developments have clearly underscored that the security of the nation can neither be outsourced nor be dependent on the largesse of others,” General Pande stated.

“The need to be self reliant in meeting our defence needs, both in acquiring new weapons systems, platforms and equipment and sustenance of existing ones by meeting ammunition, spares and maintenance demands and achieving self sufficiency in critical technologies is hence an imperative,” he stated.

According to the Army Chief, the armed forces are “aligned to the changes that are happening around us” and will continue to be “future ready.”

According to General Pande, disruptive “technologies are blunting conventional combat force ratios” and today’s “inescapable realities” of multi-domain operations encompassing cyber, space, electromagnetic spectrum, and information.

According to him, non-state actors are gaining access to contemporary military technologies and using them to gain an unfair advantage in conflicts. Conventional weapons of war have also seen significant technological advancements.

He claimed that over time, it has been clear that the battlespace has grown increasingly deadly, contested, and complex.