Indian Navy to hold two-day seminar, invites stakeholders and IOR countries
To engage Defence Industry, stakeholders towards achieving ‘Self-reliance in Defence Sector’
NEW DELHI: Viewing ‘indigenousness’ with ‘acceleration’, the Indian Navy will hold a two-day seminar- ‘Swavlamban’, at Dr Ambedkar International Centre here on July 18 and 19 to engage the Defence Industry, academia and other stakeholders towards achieving the ‘Self-reliance in Defence Sector’ goal. It is further a move towards the ambition of inducting at least 75 new indigenous technologies or products that may be developed and inducted into the Navy in the coming year, officials said.
On Tuesday, Vice Chief of Naval Staff, SN Ghormade said during the curtain raiser event, “Apart from the new technology, we are looking for ‘acceleration’ to compress the timeline. Hence, we are looking for the participation of industries, foreign manufacturing companies, academia, Indian manufacturing units and PSUs, along with DRDO to deliver ‘indigenous’, ‘readymade’ defence products, compressing time.”
The Indian Navy proposed the induction of 75 new technologies as part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to celebrate the 75th year of independence. Moreover, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has already been signed between the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) and the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation
Organisation (NIIO) to work on a collaborative project- SPRINT (Supporting Pole-Vaulting in Research & Development) through Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) and Technology Development Acceleration Cell (TDAC).
In March the Indian Navy signed MoU for knowledge partnership with BharatShakti. in, and the Society for Indigenous Defence Manufacturing (SIDM), which was considered to be a significant step towards encouraging innovation among young minds and encouraging self-reliance in defence in the country. A senior Navy official told Millennium Post that around 500 business organisations are affiliated under SIDM and they will participate at the seminar with their products and innovations.
Further, the Vice Chief of Naval Staff also informed that a declassified roadmap for ‘unmanned’ technology will be discussed during the seminar extensively. “We are looking for a plan for the ‘unmanned’ technology for another 15 years. As in every five years we see technical advancement, the Indian Navy preferred the timeline only,” Vice Admiral Ghormade told the Millennium Post.
On the other hand, by focusing on stronger military ties with the IOR countriesIndia hopes to maintain robust diplomatic relations while ensuring coordination in the event of security concerns in crucial sea lanes. Hence, companies of IOR countries have also been invited to the ‘Swavlamban’ seminar at the capital city on the second day, an official confirmed.