New Delhi : Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Thursday strongly pitched for fast-tracking the procurement of defence systems to enhance India’s military capability and said armed forces must remain ready for warfare along the borders.
In an indication of his unhappiness over the delay in the modernisation of armed forces, General Rawat also said that adequate focus must be given to ensuring that “trial procedure” for procurement of military equipment does not linger on for too long.
In his address at a conference on military communication, the army chief said high-tech products must be acquired for the armed forces on a “fast-track” mode so they do not become obsolete on procurement. “Whatever we have to induct must be done through fast-track procedures as technology becomes obsolete very soon. “It is important that we are able to identify the correct type of technology and equipment that is to be inducted into the armed forces. We have to ensure that the trial procedures do not linger for long,” he said.
Allegations of graft in a number of procurement deals and red tape are cited as reasons for delays in the acquisition of weapons systems and military hardware, affecting modernisation of the armed forces. The army chief said there is a need to modernise communication systems used by the armed forces as future wars are going to be complex and the nature of warfare is rapidly changing. –PTI
