BENGALURU: Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Monday flew in the Light Combat Helicopter at the Aero India show in Bengaluru and discussed how Indian forces will be ready to fight future wars with made-in-India weapon systems in the next 8-10 years.
Speaking to ANI here, General Pande said that he reviewed the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and he is quite impressed with its features as it has all the qualities which are required by the Indian Army.
General Pande said, “It was a very satisfying and meaningful experience. I was quite impressed with the kind of features that the Light Combat Helicopter has, especially in terms of manoeuvrability and capabilities that we in the Army require from a combat helicopter.”
“If I were to start with Infantry, we are 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”, General Pande added.
He further 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 targets at very long ranges as also looking at our capability to strategically lift our artillery from one sector to another.”
He further said, “As soon as we will move forward with these kinds of mobility, we will be able to meet the security challenges strongly in the next 8-10 years”.
The Defence Ministry’s firm Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is displaying 15 made-in-India helicopters, including an advanced light helicopter, which has been delivered to Mauritius ahead of schedule. (ANI)