New Delhi, Mar 11:The army has assured Indian industry of “total transparency” and a “level-playing field” in their dealings with the public and private defence equipment suppliers at the 2nd Interactive Army-Industry Meeting on Modernisation of the Armed Forces, organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) on Tuesday.

In his keynote address at the meeting the deputy chief of the Army, Lt General ZU Shah said, “The core areas where the Army would expect indigenous industry to gear itself for meeting the defence requirements are: improvement in night fighting capabilities; precision guidance where one round would mean one kill; improvement in command and control systems; upgrading missile capabilities which are still import dependant; and improvement in all-weather battle capabilities.”

Responding favourably to the industry’s demand for its participation in weapons procurement at the categorisation stage as recommended by the Kelkar Committee, Shah said, “We will find a way to make that happen,” adding that “We will put the exact equipment required by the Army on the net so that industry knows well in advance what is expected of it.”

“Improving missile capability and all-weather battlefield surveillance are other thrust areas we are looking at. In the next two years, we may see the fructification of our efforts in modernisation,” the deputy chief (Planning and Systems) said. He also assured the private sector of ensuring a “level-playing field”.

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