00:00Sushant, you wanted to come in
00:01and I will interrupt you
00:02the moment the cavalcade comes in,
00:04but these drones scaling up
00:07but having the latest technology,
00:09that's that fine balance, Sushant.
00:12It might be a fine balance,
00:14but you have to have a huge inventory.
00:16Look, you have to also have a huge inventory
00:18because if the other side develops
00:21air defense systems
00:22which can take out many of your drones,
00:25then if you cannot compete in quality,
00:28then you have to be able to compete.
00:29You know, overwhelm them with quantity.
00:31So there are various permutations and combinations
00:34which the defense planners
00:36will need to start working out on.
00:38But remember one thing,
00:39when the war starts,
00:41you can't say, okay, fine,
00:42I'm now going to issue orders
00:44that you manufacture so many drones.
00:46You know, if you have a 96-hour operation
00:50like we had last time,
00:52maybe the next time it'll be 960 days.
00:55Who knows?
00:55But if you have a 96-day
00:57or a 9-day kind of an operation,
01:00are you going to say that
01:01I'm going to start issuing orders
01:03and by the 7th day,
01:05the drones will start coming in
01:06and then I will start deploying them?
01:08No, you can't.
01:09So you have to have a large arsenal
01:13of these equipments
01:14and maybe kind of technologies
01:17which are in a manner of speaking,
01:19in a manner of speaking,
01:20I will repeat,
01:21which are future-proof.
01:22Entirely.
01:22Yes, I want to quickly bring in,
01:24yes, I want to quickly bring in
01:26Shivani Sharma
01:26who joins us from Bharat Mandapam.
01:29And Shivani,
01:30this is the latest in Russian technology
01:32and the latest in Indian technology
01:34that's on display
01:35that the two heads of state and government
01:37have just seen,
01:38including railway-forged manufacturing,
01:41again, an area of keen interest
01:42both for India and for Russia.
01:48Gaurav, India and Russia,
01:50they want to expand their trade
01:52beyond defence also.
01:53We are talking about drones,
01:54but there's much more beyond defence
01:56on which India and Russia
01:58are focusing as joint ventures.
02:00We've been talking about the aviation,
02:02the aircraft for the civil aviation purposes.
02:06The UAC intends to manufacture
02:09these aircraft in India
02:10at various places.
02:11Around 105 such aircraft
02:13are to be built
02:14and there are already agreements
02:15going on in that regard.
02:18Not only this,
02:19in terms of technology sharing,
02:21the grain export
02:22that India has been doing,
02:23the coffee-tea export
02:25that India has been doing,
02:26there's much more beyond defence.
02:28And defence happens to be
02:29one of the major areas
02:30on which India and Russia
02:31have been collaborating
02:32and they are moving ahead.
02:34But yes,
02:35they are now expanding
02:36the sphere of cooperation,
02:38the sphere of cooperation
02:39in technology,
02:41in aviation,
02:42in drones
02:43that might also be used
02:45for defence
02:45and for other purposes too.
02:47Because, you know,
02:48Russia happens to be one country
02:49on which India...
02:49Mention of critical edge technology,
02:52Sandeep,
02:53the tunnel boring machines.
02:54Now, that's an area
02:55of keen interest for India
02:57and India wants B2B
02:59that we should have that equipment,
03:00not just end products,
03:02but also manufactured in India
03:04because that's the kind of equipment
03:05we really need
03:06in high-altitude areas.
03:08Absolutely, Gaurav.
03:09You know,
03:10and both of us have covered
03:11the deployments in Ladakh
03:13and one of the biggest,
03:15you know,
03:17Achilles heels for us,
03:18Gaurav,
03:19is the fact that
03:19we didn't have
03:19the kind of tunnel boring
03:20machines that we needed.
03:22We are dependent
03:23on foreign suppliers
03:24for those
03:24and this is something
03:25that we have discovered
03:28during the drone wars
03:29of the last couple of years
03:31where because you have
03:32this precision mass
03:34which is literally
03:34walls of drones
03:36coming in,
03:36hitting everything
03:37that's out in the open,
03:38you need to keep
03:40your vehicles,
03:41you need to keep
03:41your supply dumps,
03:43your ammunition dumps,
03:44they have to be either
03:45camouflaged or dispersed
03:46or hidden in tunnels
03:48in underground,
03:49you know,
03:50fortifications
03:51and that is where
03:52tunnel boring machines
03:53come in, Gaurav,
03:54and that's so critical.
03:55It's a very, very critical
03:56dual-use technology.
03:58You can build
03:59your tunnels with that,
04:00you can, you know,
04:01run metro trains
04:02through those tunnels
04:03and you can also
04:04use those tunnels
04:05to hide your strategic assets
04:07to keep your ammo,
04:08your fuel,
04:09all of those things
04:10that will, you know,
04:11enable you to fight
04:12on the borders
04:13in, you know,
04:14in these contested spaces
04:16that we have
04:16very large LACs,
04:19LOCs
04:20with both countries,
04:22China and Pakistan.
04:23So tunnel boring machines,
04:24Gaurav,
04:24is a capability
04:25that we have
04:26woken up to off late.
04:28You've seen how China,
04:29which is a,
04:30which is the number one country
04:31literally in the world
04:32in tunnel boring machines,
04:34they've withheld
04:35supplying these machines
04:36to us
04:37at certain critical junctures
04:38and that is a,
04:39you know,
04:40that is a deficiency
04:41that we have kind of
04:42tried to overcome
04:43and Russia of course
04:44and Russia of course
04:45could be that
04:45very important source
04:46of getting those machines.
04:48The Russian
04:49engineering expertise
04:50in TBMs
04:52is literally second
04:53to no other country
04:54in the world,
04:55Gaurav.
04:55So this is another
04:56very big area of,
04:58you know,
04:58tunnel boring
04:59machine technology
05:00that's opened up
05:01and it's actually
05:02a subset of
05:02the drone warfare
05:03that we've been talking about
05:05because drones have become
05:06so difficult.
05:06because you cannot keep
05:07anything out of
05:08when they open anymore,
05:09Gaurav.
05:11Beat Ladakh
05:12or beat Nautis,
05:13you know,
05:14Agurachal Pradesh,
05:15Naut Sikkim,
05:17Uttarakhand,
05:17Himachal Pradesh,
05:18this is equipment
05:19that's required
05:20across the Himalayas
05:22for India
05:22and it's actually
05:24helped India
05:25to be able to
05:26mobilize very quickly
05:27Sushant Sarin
05:28retain our forces
05:29in better areas
05:30but quickly mobilize them
05:31should there be a need.
05:33But, you know,
05:33when we're talking
05:34about civilian technology
05:36if it were to
05:36civil aviation
05:38or railways,
05:39that's again an area
05:40where the two countries
05:41are seeking to deepen
05:42the cooperation
05:42and this would only
05:44hold both countries
05:45in great stead.
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