Ahmedabad, March 13 As a rising power, India will find it difficult to receive help from anywhere, making it necessary to find in-house solutions, emphasized Major General Gaurav Bagga, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Golden Katar Division, on Friday.
Major General Bagga was speaking at the International Conference on Composite Materials and Technologies organized by Ahmedabad University.
"We are a rising power, and no rising power has ever made friends. We will get help from nowhere. Therefore, the solutions have to be found in-house," he said.
He noted that during Operation Sindoor, India's military action against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan last year, none of the country's allies spoke in its favor.
"India had 190 allies, but not a single one spoke in its favor, while Pakistan had three allies who supplied it with ammunition during the operation... A rising power will never have people holding its hand. Every power that has risen has done so because of internal strength," Bagga emphasized.
Operation Sindoor was launched on May 7, 2025, in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack, leading to the decimation of terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and Pakistan.
"We need to sit down and decide how to secure this nation. And whatever the material composition, the solution will be found. I am very optimistic that a solution will be found in-house. Self-reliance (Atma Nirbharta) will be a success, and India will be a developed nation by 2047," he added.
Bagga pointed out that modern warfare has evolved into a multi-domain one, significantly changing the nature of the battlefield.
"When you go onto the battlefield, you are required to survive, and then you are required to fight. The entire nature of battle has changed. Earlier, there were just three domains — land, sea and air. Today, warfare has gone into multi-domain with the inflow of cyber, surveillance, information warfare, and electronic warfare, and the nature of warfare is ever-expanding," he said.
And for survival, he said, the first thing that comes in is a material that can withstand the kinetic assault of the enemy.
He noted that India's terrains are changing from desert to rainy forests, and sub-zero temperatures in the Himalayas, and hence, the Army's material requirements are constantly changing across the fronts, posing a challenge to survivability.
Bagga said that researchers from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and industries produce materials that the Army can use.
"We don't have the technology to reproduce tank engines and aircraft engines. We don't have close-quarter battle weapons. And therefore, if India has to become Atma Nirbhar by 2047, security is of prime importance. We need to secure our nation, empower our armed forces, and invest in them," he said.