Stating that the Indian army wants to eliminate infiltration rather than discourage it, Lt. Gen Subrata Saha, deputy chief of Army Staff (Planning & Systems) asked defence manufacturers to explore innovate technologies that can be used in the dark to tackle such issues. Addressing a seminar on defence and aerospace at the Make in India Week in Mumbai, Lt Gen Saha said the constant debate in army circles was whether to light up the fence or keep it dark.

“If you light it up, you discourage the fellow who is infiltrating, but if you keep it dark and exploit technology, you are able to eliminate that fellow. And if you ask me, it is better to eliminate than discourage,” he said.

Listing out the opportunities for the defence equipment manufacturers, Lt Gen Saha said the Army is looking at tremendous capability development and modernisation for its current as well as ongoing conflicts like anti insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir, North East or attack that took place in Pathankhot. “This is an area which requires focus. These are typical Indian requirements for which we require Indian solutions,” he said and added that the army would conduct workshops in key industrial hubs all across the country.

Currently, there are more than 150 procurement schemes that have been floated by the Indian army out of which about 42 per cent are valued below Rs 150 crore. “I see tremendous opportunity for small and medium enterprises (SME’s) in this segment,” Lt Gen Saha said.

He said SMEs have a bigger role to play in the defence sector. In order to upscale the sectoral competitiveness, he proposed to seek capacity development, modernisation and focus on big-ticket items like large gun system, future combat vehicles among others. Dwelling upon the aspect of high technological requirement, Lt Gen Saha said that solutions should be designed keeping in view the nature of requirement.