Legacy weapons will remain important in future wars, says former Army chief

Nagpur: Former Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pande on Friday said there appears to be a feeling that future wars would be fought only with drones or other hi-tech systems, "but that might not be so as the importance of legacy weapon systems would continue". "There is a buzz that future wars will be fought only by drones and AI. It's not possible, nor desirable, to have that everywhere. Legacy weapons will always be important," Pande said during a defence-focused session at the Advantage Vidarbha conclave on Friday.Later, explaining his point on the sidelines, general Pande said that when conflicts were over disputed boundaries, the land needed to be held by the forces. "This was where conventional systems needed to be deployed." By legacy systems, Pande said he meant older systems such as tanks and guns.He said Operation Sindoor, which remains in discussion, also showed the importance of self-reliance. Even the conflicts going on globally taught about the importance of self-reliance in technology. As he stressed the importance of legacy systems, Pande also said that the character of war has changed. "It spread across various sectors, not limiting it to fighting between two forces, and the country's preparation needed to be along these lines," he said.The former Army chief also said Nagpur was an ideal location for the development of defence industries due to the presence of ordnance factories and proximity to research units such as those of the DRDO. "The defence corridor planned at Saoner would also add to the advantage," he said.Pande stressed the importance of all segments, such as the govt, defence services, industries, and even academia, in modernisation. Pande said he saw much positivity in the MSME sector, and the "recent increase of 13% in the defence budget lays substantial focus on modernisation of the defence forces".