Army to focus on technology absorption: Southern chief

PUNE: Indigenisation, technology absorption and operational capability enhancement will be the focus areas of the army’s Southern Command, according to Lt General Ajai Kumar Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Command.

The Southern Command, which celebrates its 130th Raising Day on April 1, is the oldest and the largest command of the Indian Army, covering 41 per cent India’s landmass spread over 11 states and four Union Territories.

Lt Gen Singh, the 38th GOC-In-C of the Southern Command, also spoke about the Command’s commitment to leverage technology as a catalyst for transformative change during the year 2024, being observed by the army as the Year of Technology Absorption. “This theme underscores our commitment to leverage technology as a catalyst for transformative change, as well as to use in-house expertise to innovate solutions to our operational and logistic requirements and give shape to these projects in collaboration with domestic defence industry,” he said.

“The Southern Command has made a significant contribution in India’s focus of being self-sufficient in defence manufacturing. Being geographically co-located with the industry hubs of the country and having a large number of Field Firing Ranges (FFRs), the Southern Command acts as a test bed for trials of various weapon platforms, critical defence equipment and sophisticated ammunition,” he said. Seven innovations fielded by Southern Command have been selected for pan-army implementation along with transfer of technology to industrial partners for production, he said.

As part of regular outreach to industry and academia, state wise seminars-cum-exhibitions are regularly conducted,” he said, adding the the events are conducted at Pune in February and May. Similar events are conducted at Chennai and Hyderabad and are also being planned in Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru, Lt Gen Singh said.

This theme underscores our commitment to leverage technology as a catalyst for transformative change, as well as to use in-house expertise to innovate solutions to operational requirements — Lt Gen Singh