George accords priority to modernisation of armed forcres

NEW DELHI, OCT 18: Terming the security environment in the immediate neighbourhood as "deteriorating", Defence Minister George F...

NEW DELHI, OCT 18: Terming the security environment in the immediate neighbourhood as "deteriorating", Defence Minister George Fernandes on Wednesday said " top most priority" was being accorded to modernisation of armed forces by acquisition of state of art weapons systems in the context of long term threat perceptions.

Inaugurating the annual Combined Commanders Conference of the three Services here, he referred to the deteriorating environment in the context of cross border terrorism growing rapidly in magnitude and sophistication and impressed on the top defence brass the need to monitor and analyse these developments in more "detailed and focused manner".

Fernandes announced that Government had given green signal for the construction of an indegenious aircraft carrier besides acquisition of `Admiral Gorshkov’.

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He also mentioned recent agreements signed for purchase and indegenious production of T-90 tanks and SU-30MKI fighters and acquisition of ten more Mirage 2000 multi-role jets from France saying that these were part of moves to provide armed forces a cutting edge to face any challenges.

Referring to over 28 per cent hike in defence budget, Fernandes asked the commanders to ensure that there were no delays in induction of state of art weapon systems and that expenditure was cost effective.

The Minister said the acquisition of the British aerospace Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJT) for the Air Force was also "well underway".

With the spate of new defence deals underway, he stressed on a system of mandatory and time bound scrutiny and audit of all "major past and future procurements" saying this was a must to ensure "utmost transparency and probity".

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He emphasised that such an exercise would "put at rest" allegations of irregularities in different defence deals that have been made in the past.

Fernandes told the top commanders that task forces set up by the Group of Minister’s in the areas of intelligence apparatus, internal security, border management and defence management has submitted their reports.

He said the Group of Minister’s, of which he was a member along with Home Minister L K Advani, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, was now actively engaged in the expeditious consideration of the recommendations of the task forces.

The minister told the commanders that the world was now poised for another military revolution with information technology and advanced military systems set to transform the very nature of wars.

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In this context, he said there was now a growing recognition of the role that India can play in ensuring regional and global peace and security in the emerging polycentric world.