Chief of the Army Staff, General Manoj Pande on Monday flew in a Light Combat Helicopter at the 14th edition of Aero India show, inaugurated earlier in the day by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Karnataka’s Bengaluru.
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The 3-minute video shared by news agency ANI showed the Army chief getting seated in the helicopter as preparations were made for its flight. After clearance and other protocol measures, the made-in-India helicopter takes off with a thundering sound.
“It was a very satisfying and meaningful experience. I was quite impressed with the kind of features that Light Combat Helicopter has, especially in terms of manoeuvrability and capabilities that we in Army is requiring from a combat helicopter,” General Manoj Pande told ANI after his ride.
Highlighting progress in India’s indigenous military capabilities, he said “It’s a work in progress. It is difficult to lay down a timeline but with the kind of ecosystem getting developed, enthusiasm and capability in civil defence industry, I’m sure that in next 8-10 years, we’ll be able to fight future wars with our indigenous solutions.”
“Without going into the specifics, we are looking at a wide range of our military capabilities through the Make in India or Aatmanirbharta route” he added.
“If I were to start with Infantry, initially looking at making an Infantry soldier or empowering him to carry out his task on a battlefield in terms of protection, increasing situational awareness, giving him better surveillance capability, ability to fight at night,” the Chief of Army Staff said.
On advanced features of the tanks in the coming years, the General said, “If you look at the armour of the tanks, we are looking at a future-ready tank which we want to be night enabled – there also we are looking at better protection and better situational awareness.”
“In the case of artillery, we’re looking at a range of capability starting from a mounted gun, improving the precision, improving to engage target at very long ranges as also looking at our capability to strategically lift our artillery from one sector to another,” he said on future developments in artillery.
