New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) Describing ammunition as not just a product but an "aspect of strategic deterrence", Lt Gen A S Aujla, Master General Sustenance of the Indian Army, on Wednesday pitched for building a secure and resilient ammunition ecosystem that brings smart solutions, saying it is not an aspiration but an "operational and a national necessity".

In his address at a defence conference here, he also suggested that the country should come up with some kind of "ammunition vision", whether it is for 2030, 2035 or 2040.

There has to be a "national cause, a national vision and an objective where we work on a mission mode to achieve something", he added.

Lt Gen Aujla said wars are becoming increasingly intensive and complex in nature, and the global landscape related to ammunition is also "changing" at a rapid pace.

So, the Indian armed forces are also preparing to face these challenges in a very deliberate, strategised kind of manner and the bottomline is that "we should be strategically prepared at all time", he added.

By focussing on the hybrid and asymmetric warfare, cyber and AI, and the information warfare, investment in space capabilities and taking care of the counter-drone and counter-missile systems, Lt Gen Aujla asserted, "I think we are positioning ourselves... to navigate through the evolving contours of future warfighting in a holistic kind of a manner." "And, in all of this, ammunition automatically becomes the cornerstone or the defining... potential capabilities and capacities," he said.

In his address, the Army's Master General Sustenance shared some figures to show the force's bid to achieve 'Atmanirbharta' in ammunition field.

"In terms of our present ammunition ecosystem, we have got 175 different variants of ammunition on our inventory, of all types, small, medium and heavy types. Out of these 154 are today indigenised. It is a mini-success kind of a story as to where we were 3-4 years back and where we are now. I think it is a very drastic and a very upscale kind of transition that is happening," the officer said.

"We were less than 30 per cent indigenous just about four years back, today we are 90 per cent indigenous. The balance 31, 12 are in very advanced stages of trials. So, they are also equally indigenised," he added.

And, in the roadmap formulated, "we will be very, very soon 100 per cent indigenous, apart from a few components".

Lt Gen Aujla also underlined that the Army is looking at smart and intelligent solutions related to ammunition which are "tailor-made and customised to suit our operational requirements".

The 'Ammo Conference' was hosted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI).

Secretary (Defence Production), Sanjeev Kumar, in his address said the demand for ammunition will surge during time of adversarial relationship or adversarial situation at the border.

"So, how does one create a surge capacity when the demand during peacetime is fraction of what is required when the situation is not peaceful," he added.

Lt Gen Aujla urged all stakeholders to work on the learning from Operation Sindoor and other military conflicts in the world.

"Wars or conflicts today are being characterised by being swift, being fast, short or long is something that has to be seen as to how they unfold. But, they are becoming lethal, they are becoming precise. In fact, they are now getting refined by precision firepower, rapid mobilisation and multi-domain synergy between land, air, sea, robotics, cyber, space and so on and so forth," he said.

"We are looking at safeguarding our national security, maintaining a strategic kind of a dominance. We are working to achieve a 24x7 kind of an operational preparedness and we also want to have a credible kind of a capability to achieve our short, medium and long term strategic goals," the officer added.

Lt Gen Aujla said when one looks at new-generation ammunition that have revolutionised warfare or warfighting practices, then which are the "ones we are wanting to align ourselves" as the magnitude and spectrum is huge.

He cited examples of hyperosonic technology, loitering munitions, direct energy weapons as desirable requirements for the Indian force.

"Ammunition is a not a product of a resource, it is an aspect of strategic deterrence... If I have fight tomorrow's battlefield, then I should not be looking at yesterday's supply chains," the officer said.

The Army's Master General Sustenance asserted that the industry has to pitch in and convergence of all stakeholders has to happen to "ensure a secure ammunition ecosystem" which is resilient, export-capable and smart and intelligent ammunition solutions.

"Today to have this is not an aspiration. It is an operational and a national necessity," the officer underlined.

"If we do not exploit this window of opportunity now, I think again we will wake up to a ride shock in times to come.. So, let's weaponise our preparedness in peace or it can be said in the otherwise also, let's weaponise peace with preparedness," he said. PTI KND AS AS