00:00It's an excellent forum and it provides me an opportunity to interact with the people of the industry and the academia.
00:09I am particularly happy that the event is being held in Ranchi, Jharkhand, a land where Indian heritage and modern excellence converges.
00:20We have recently concluded our three days Combined Commander Conference.
00:25You must have read it in the papers and we had held it in Kolkata.
00:31East is generally considered sacred auspicious in the Indian culture as it symbolizes auspicious beginnings, spiritual enlightenment and the arrival of positive energy along with the rising sun.
00:45We believe that war is a science as well as an art.
00:50A warrior, in my view, has to be very, very creative.
00:53We will never be able to lead in defense technology unless we are creative.
01:02We will have to be very innovative, inventive and imaginative.
01:07And in some manner, this is captured in some verses of our Rashtakabhi, Sri Ramadharish Siddhinkar, in his poem, Rashmi Rathi, in which he has contextualized this in a conversation between Pashuram with Karna.
01:27And I will try and repeat that.
01:57He is saying that if you want to remain contemporary, you will have, in warfare, you will have to be imaginative, you will have to promote something new and innovative on a daily basis.
02:07And when he is saying this, it is not applicable to soldiers alone.
02:11I think it is applicable equally to our scientists, it is applicable to our industrialists.
02:19A soldier may have to be innovative in his tactics and strategy, a scientist in weapon designs, and an industrialist in meeting the delivery timelines and the cost of that particular equipment.
02:32If we are interested in research and development, then only we will be able to win or fight today's battles with tomorrow's technology.
02:42And here are some suggestions which I would like to talk about.
02:44First is about strategic selection of projects based on threat perception and capability gaps, which will be paramount in this regard.
02:54Armed forces will have to take a lead.
02:56We also need to review the number of projects on which DRDO, ongoing research and development is going on, in the context of seeing their applicability in today's modern warfare.
03:09Some of these projects may have started, you know, 10, 15 years back, whether they are still applicable or not, we need to have a look at this.
03:17Defense diplomacy will need to be harnessed to bolster joint purchase and transfer of technology for complex projects and niche technologies.
03:26And when I am talking about defense diplomacy, it no longer is the forte only of carrier diplomats.
03:31It will involve civil servants, it will involve army officers, military officers, it will involve industries, it will involve even heads of DPSUs.
03:40You all got to reach out with countries outside and then expand our base, manufacturing base.
03:46Enablers like, third thing is about artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum technology.
03:52These must be fully exploited.
03:55And I think defense forces must be part of this national talent mission on all these special projects.
04:01We are going to have a very, very long-term approach.
04:02We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:03We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:04We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:05We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:06We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:07We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:08We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:09We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:10We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:11We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:12We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:13We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:14We are going to have a very long-term approach.
04:15We are going to have a very long-term approach.
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