Country’s economic prowess gets reflected in its ammunition: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) A country’s economic prowess gets automatically reflected in the field of ammunition and India must focus on boosting research and development as well as manufacturing capability in this area, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday.

“We have come far ahead of those times when a bomb’s size and explosive capacity were the only things that mattered. Now, their smartness is as important,” Singh said in his speech during an event of industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). If advanced ammunition is the reality of new-age warfare, then the country should focus its attention on where it is standing today in terms of research and development, indigenous capacity and manufacturing capability in this area, he said.

“A country’s economic development and progress in the field of science and technology gets automatically reflected in the capacity of its weapons and ammunition,” Singh noted. He said one should learn the right lessons from history to forge a new path towards the future.

“History teaches us that whenever anyone was able to dominate the world, it was because they did various experiments and research in the field of ammunition,” the minister added. The employment of precision-guided munitions at the Muntho Dhalo base had played a significant role during the Kargil war, he pointed out. “As a result, we were able to achieve a very big victory in this war. And yesterday (Tuesday) only, we celebrated the 23rd anniversary of the Kargil war,” Singh said.

After the Pulwama terror attack in 2019, India again saw the precision capability of these munitions, which helped the armed forces achieve success in their mission, he said. Singh said one should keep in mind that in the future too, the ammunition — in accordance with their changing specialities — will continue to play a major role in wars.

In the modern battlefields, the ammunition are coming forward in their new avatar, he mentioned. “They are able to take inputs by themselves, do course correction and target a particular place at a specific time once they have been programmed to do so,” the minister noted.

“Like any capable hunter, these ammunition are able to keep their sight at the target for a very long time,” Singh said.