Indian Army in partnership with the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) held a one day Webinar on 14 December 2020 on “Agile EME : Facilitating Boots on Ground through Aggressive Industrial Outreach”.
The initiative will help the Indian Army to plan modernisation of its Repair Echelons in line with latest technology trends worldwide and also promote indigenisation to reduce dependency on imports and cut cost on repairs. But more important, the initiative will help reduce the time for which critical equipment of the field army remains unserviceable awaiting some critical spares/components to come from abroad (new or repaired)
The three distinct sessions and panel discussions of webinar were dedicated to indigenisation, modernisation of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) Workshops and use of Condition Based Monitoring for repair of equipment.
In the inaugural session, Lt Gen SK Upadhya, Master General of Sustenance, Indian Army conveyed that such digital interactions have become the new normal to do business. He further highlighted that Indian Industry is progressing fast towards becoming a major defence industrial base and the defence industry always offers new solutions to any arising problems of Armed forces. He said “Given the situation we are facing at the Northern borders, we have very well been able to look after our equipment due to the constant support from defence industry”. He mentioned that the webinar is a step towards meeting indigenisation requirements of the EME and further stated that the Industry should assist Indian Army to meet these requirements in a timely and qualitative manner.
Lt Gen Anil Kapoor, Director General Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), in his theme address, said “the new mantra of agility is a compulsion and no longer a choice and in the EME, we definitely have to be agile”. He highlighted the importance of co-partnering through industrial outreach and derive common denominators and best practices to make sure that EME becomes contemporary and futuristic to handle the challenges ahead. He further said “India and Indians are synonymous with innovation and challenges to address any obstacle; Indigenisation can be achieved with a similar spirit and fervour”.
Mr Jayant Patil, President, SIDM, while giving out Industry perspective mentioned that India is facing security challenges from all domains. The country has to maintain its position as a leading regional power capable of not only defending its sovereignty but also acting as a net security provider in challenging regions of the world. To maintain and achieve this objective, our military has to be equipped with the best-in-class equipment, which preferably, should be ‘Made-in-India’. He stated that the Indian Industry is capable of meeting the requirements of the defence sector which will allow India to increasingly become ‘Self-reliant’.
The Webinar was attended by 140 Industry delegates and military officers.
