Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan cautioned against relying on imported niche technologies for critical offensive and defensive missions and emphasised the need for self-reliance in safeguarding national security.
“Operation Sindoor has shown us why indigenously developed counter-UAS systems built for our terrain are crucial. We cannot rely on imported niche technology that is crucial for our offensive and defensive missions. We must invent and build safeguards ourselves. Dependence on foreign technology weakens our preparedness,” CDS Chauhan said.
He was speaking at a workshop on UAV and Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) indigenisation in New Delhi.
General Chauhan explained that dependence on foreign technology limits India’s preparedness because the capabilities of foreign weapons and sensors are widely known, enabling adversaries to predict Indian tactics based on the characteristics of these imported systems.
“Dependence on foreign technology weakens our preparedness, limits our ability to scale up production, results in a shortfall of critical spares for sustenance and round-the-clock availability. Another aspect is… the capability of foreign weapons and sensors are known to all and adversaries can predict our tactics… based on the capabilities of the particular system,” he said.
CDS Chauhan also stressed the need for indigenously developed systems to maintain an edge over adversaries, saying the unknown capabilities of home-grown systems could add an element of surprise in initial encounters.
“(Capabilities of) modern aircraft, air-to-air missile ranges are known to us and our adversaries also. The moment they are imported, the adversary can keep out of those ranges and develop tactics accordingly. So it becomes a severe limitation. But if you use our own system, its capabilities are not known to the adversary and that may add an element of surprise in initial encounters,” he added.
Referencing India’s Operation Sindoor in May, General Chauhan noted that none of the unarmed drones and loitering munitions deployed by Pakistan inflicted any damage on Indian military or civilian infrastructure
“During Operation Sindoor, on 10th May, Pakistan used unarmed drones and loitering munitions. None of them inflicted any damage to the Indian military or civil infrastructure. Most were neutralised through a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic means, and some were even recovered in almost intact condition,” he said.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 10 in retaliation for the Pahalgam terrorist attack, in which 26 innocent civilians were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists. Under Operation Sindoor, India targeted nine terrorist infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), killing over 100 designated terrorists.
