Battlefield digitisation, adding ‘real edge’ to combat
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the Commanders’ Conference recently touched upon various aspects of security and linked it to development. The tech savvy Prime Minister underlined the importance of a ‘Digital Armed Force’, urging the Services to give serious thought to upgrade technological skills. Digitisation is the way forward.
And we at SP Guide Publications believe in this mantra and have partnered with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for the international seminar on October 27 in New Delhi on ‘Digitisation of Battlefield – Extending Network-Centricity to the Last Mile in the Tactical Battle Area’. The seminar series is a continuous effort to get the best minds in the business to talk/discuss and action about digitisation, all in an effort to equip the armed forces with the most modern arms and equipment. We are thankful to the sponsors who are in fact partners in progress specific to the defence realm. As regards Tactical Communication System (TCS), Lt General P.C. Katoch (Retd) has pointed out that the Army’s modernisation plan getting affected by the void of the TCS, but is hopeful that the Prime Minister’s push for indigenisation and absorbing foreign technology would speed up the TCS programme.
Of the many campaigns/initiatives that the Prime Minister Modi has launched, the ‘Make in India’ campaign is going to be a highly critical element in India’s quest to become an economic powerhouse. There is a renewed business confidence as policymakers firm up plans to increase the attractiveness of India as a manufacturing hub and set the country on a growth path by creating jobs on a massive scale. The entrepreneur/business community is already excited about the prospects and we hope that the ‘red carpet’ and not the ‘red tape’, is laid out as promised. Though we are already witnessing an improvement in macro-economic factors including improved GDP, control on inflation and surge of the stock market, we should keep pushing for more and more reforms. The government seems to be receptive.
These reforms do augur well for the industry and we have in this issue companies such as MBDA, Rolls-Royce and Rockwell Collins endorsing the ‘Make in India’ campaign.
Coming to the irritant on the western front, General V.P. Malik (Retd) has stated that the installation of Modi Government in India and revision of its policy on cross border terrorism rankles Pakistan. The Pakistan establishment is unable to digest India’s progress on the domestic and international fronts and that Pakistan has not yet realised that its efforts to ‘tie down’ India has done more harm to Pakistan itself. India has to re-evaluate its military strategy against Pakistan whose capability appears to have been reduced to terrorism, subversion and border skirmishes.
The fact that Prime Minister Modi is leading from the front has boosted enormous confidence across sections. As a responsible media house, we are partnering with various organisations to give fillip to the programmes in our own little way. We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming seminar on October 27 at the FICCI Auditorium, New Delhi.