Digitalisation of forces is top priority: Bhamre

New Delhi, March 23 (IANS) Union Minister Subhash Bhamre on Thursday said digitalisation of forces is one of the top priorities of the government, an official said.

The government intends to create high capacity information network for the Digital Army based on state-of-the-art technologies of the Indian armed forces, the minister said.

Talking on the urgent need for a robust, secure, high capacity data networks for Operational Commanders, Bhamre said: "They are also a critical facet of the force modernisation plans of the Indian Army, which will further form a fulcrum for tri-services integration in times to come."

He was delivering the inaugural address at DEFCOM INDIA 2017, with the theme 'Infrastructure and Skilled Human Resource for Digital Army', organised jointly by the Corps of Signals of the Indian Army and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a statement said.

Emphasising on the need for indigenous capabilities in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the defence sector, he said that from a security point of view India need to have indigenous solutions for the Digital Army.

These initiatives are expected to give a major fillip to the 'Make in India' programme.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat said that armed forces are imbibing technologies in a manner that will keep pace with the changing technologies before they become obsolete.

"But for that to happen, it is important that we are able to identify the correct type of technology and equipment that is to be inducted into the armed forces," he said.

He also asked for the rapid digitalization of the military system and ruggedization of the army's communication systems.

The event was also addressed by Signal Officer-in-Chief Lt. Gen. Ashish Ranjan Prasad and CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee.