New Delhi, Sep 18
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan on Wednesday said that India is a 'Vishwa Mitra' and a 'Vishwa Bandhu' in the global world order.
"India's position is of a 'Vishwa Mitra' and a 'Vishwa Bandhu' in the global world order. India's focus is on operational readiness, modernisation and strategic autonomy through 'Aatmanirbharta'," said the CDS while addressing a conclave for Foreign Service Attaches (FSAs) hosted by the Defence Intelligence Agency of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff at New Delhi.
He added that in the most violent decade since World War II, there is a growing propensity amongst nations to use force to contain conflicts. The growing uncertainty and insecurity is leading nations to renew their national security strategy and increase expenditure on defence.
The CDS said this while highlighting four distinct areas of India's Defence vis-a-vis operational preparedness, modernisation, transformation and indigenisation. He emphasised the significance of Data-Centric Warfare and the role of Artificial Intelligence in revolutionising warfare. The CDS gave an insight into India's Atmanirbharta for defence capability development and strategic autonomy.
Director General Defence Intelligence Agency (DG DIA) Lt Gen DS Rana apprised the FSAs that India's Defence Diplomacy was expanding steadily in terms of the nature of activities as well as geographic coverage wherein security cooperation was a key component.
He highlighted the vision of Atmanirbharta and indigenisation in Defence and implored FSAs to gain first-hand experience in modernisation programmes.
A holistic overview of India's strategic perspective was given to the FSAs by Defence Subject Matter Experts. Lt Gen Raj Shukla (Retd) spoke on 'India's National Security, Challenges and Opportunities', Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan (Retd) deliberated upon 'Indo-Pacific Region Competition, Cooperation and Challenges' and Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma (Retd) gave insights on 'Grey Zone Warfare and Impact on Security Dynamics'.