Govt to unveil long-term perspective plan of armed forces

BANGALORE: Government would shortly unveil the Armed Forces Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan reflecting their 15-year operational requirements, a key Defence official said here today.

"....shortly you will have Armed Forces Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan in public domain", Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) said at an international conference on electronic warfare (EW).

"Perspective Plan of the Armed Forces is likely to be approved by the Government very shortly", he told reporters later. "It (the Plan) will be put on MoD ( Ministry of Defence) website".

The Plan would give an idea to the industries vis-a-vis requirements of the Armed Forces for the next 15 years so that they can act accordingly in areas such as joint venture, investment, research and development, the Vice-Admiral said.

Acknowledging that the demand-supply gap is an issue and the process -- from conceptualisation to actual delivery of products -- takes "a little longer time", he said there is need to involve and encourage private industry and "widen the capacity of the industry".

But Vice-Admiral Sinha said the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) would have to develop niche technologies as "nobody will give it to us".