New Delhi: Deputy Chief of Army Staff (CD&S) Lt General Rahul R Singh today highlighted the growing military cooperation between Pakistan and China as a key concern emerging from Operation Sindoor, calling it a strategic challenge for India.
Addressing the conference-cum-exhibition on ‘New Age Military Technologies’, organised by FICCI here, Lt Gen Singh said, “We had one border and two adversaries — actually three. Pakistan was in the front, while China provided all possible support.”
He described the alliance as “unsurprising”, stating that China would rather kill with a borrowed knife than engage directly.
"In the last five years, 81 percent of Pakistan's military hardware is sourced from China," Lt Gen Singh said, while highlighting Beijing’s growing role in Islamabad’s defence preparedness.
He also warned that China's involvement in providing weapons to Pakistan offers them an opportunity to test new technologies in a real-world combat environment, comparong it to a "live lab."
Lt Gen Singh revealed that during DGMO-level talks, Pakistan appeared to be receiving live updates from China about India's military vectors, demonstrating the increasing sophistication of electronic warfare and intelligence sharing among adversaries.
He also highlighted about Turkey playing an important role in providing support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.
He emphasised on the urgency of developing a robust air defence system capable of countering such challenges, despite the financial and logistical constraints India faces compared to nations like Israel, which boasts the Iron Dome system.
"Moving fast is crucial, and we need to be prepared for the next time," Lt Gen Singh said.
He said, “There is a lot of scope including civil-military fusion and we need to develop an eco-system for drones including production, testing, etc. We have been in consultation with the Ministry of Defence and others to come up with a framework and by September or October we should be out with our drone framework wherein we are looking at how to incentivise all the production, how to get through the vulnerabilities and how to facilitate testing would be the basic theme of this framework”.
He stated that India’s dream is to become a developed country by 2047 and Viksit Bharat means meeting a target of USD 30 trillion economy. “This is possible only if industries play out. It is possible in case our armed forces provide the secure environment that is required for the nation to progress,” he added.
The industry, Lt Gen Singh said, should focus on profits but should not compromise on quality and timely delivery.
“Industry must stick to timelines and focus on 4 Cs which include cooperate, collaborate, compete but not complain. We have to be ready to fight the war, and it is not the soldiers only who can win a war. It is soldier and the industry going together,” he added.
The Deputy Chief of Army Staff also recommended that the industry should create more testing facilities and both the armed forces, and the industry must work together to take it forward.
