TV
Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday underlined the primacy of land forces in any battlefield and said dominance over land will remain the currency of victory in India's context.
In an address at an event here, he argued the importance of land forces in any war and referred to last month's summit talks between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on the Ukraine conflict.
"When you go back to the Alaska conference that took place between the two presidents, they just discussed how much land has to exchange hands," Dwivedi said.
"In India, since we have two-and-a-half-front threats, land will remain the currency of victory," he said.
The chief of army staff's comments in an address at the All India Management Association's 52nd National Management Convention came two weeks after Air Chief Marshal A P Singh said Operation Sindoor had once again established the "primacy" of air power.
In India's military context, the challenges emanating from China and Pakistan are considered as two fronts and the half front is generally referred to internal threats from insurgency and militancy.
In his remarks, the army chief also extensively elaborated on the changing nature of warfare and how the Indian Army is carrying out transformative changes in terms of inducting new and emerging technologies.
The Army Chief, touching upon Operation Sindoor, said it was a fine example of synergy and contribution by India's soldiers, commanders and other stakeholders without even a declaration of war.
Gen Dwivedi said a whole of government approach was on display as everyone operated without the Union of war book being invoked.
"All the right boxes were ticked in the Union war book without invoking it. That is how we moved ahead," he said.
The Chief of Army Staff also underlined the importance of self-reliance in the defence sector.
"If it is an India-made equipment, money is no problem at all," he said.
However, Gen Dwivedi qualified his remarks, saying the industry has to be ready to produce the specified quality of items in the given time frame.
"If it comes to a war-winning factor, it has to be very clear that there are no runners-up in war. No runners up means a benchmark has to be established, and below that is not acceptable," he said, stressing the importance of quality in military equipment.
The Army Chief said that with a 10 per cent increase in defence spending every year, there is enough to stimulate and catalyse a cross-domain 'atmanirbhar' system to obtain cutting-edge solutions that go beyond the short-term requirements.
Talking about the need for the industry to invest in defence development and production, Gen Dwivedi said the army has tried to ensure transparency and predictability in procurement.
The Army chief said his force would use whatever the industry can initially provide, and it would increase its purchase as the industry can scale up the supply.
However, he emphasised, the goalposts will keep moving as the Army's needs change in response to the adversary's advances in technology.
For example, he said, much of the missiles, drones and munitions the army is looking at are to hit things 100kms-150kms away, but going forward, it would want things for 750 kms range or beyond
(With PTI Inputs)
