SOURCE: UNI
The Indian Army has ‘successfully’ conducted a week-long Forward Area Tour (FAT) for defence experts, encouraging civil-military fusion in defence technology. The tour spanning May 12 to 19 facilitated the defence experts to get a first-hand experience of the operational and administrative challenges faced by troops deployed in forward areas of Arunachal Pradesh, thereby motivating them to formulate inventive technological solutions to the problems, Army sources said on Sunday.
Sources said that seven qualified defence experts from various defence industries, StartUps and academia formed part of the FAT team. On May 12, the delegates arrived at Dinjan Military Station in Assam’s Dibrugarh district, the country’s easternmost Army formation, and were oriented towards the operational perspective including terrain dynamics, surveillance, logistics problems and various defence requirements in the forward areas.
From May 13 to 15, the delegates visited the forward areas in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and gained insights about the operational and logistics challenges of the Armed Forces. “They got a comprehensive understanding of the technological & operational requirements of the Indian Army operating in the remote and inhospitable terrain of Arunachal Pradesh.” The experts also visited Army establishments in Lohit and Namsai districts of Arunachal Pradesh and Dibrugarh district of Assam, and interacted with senior officers who acquainted them with challenges related to surveillance, habitat, communications and logistics in these remote areas.
“Fostering cooperation between Armed Forces and the industry, the interaction focused on the need for holistic efforts in developing indigenous state of art technology tailored for mountainous terrain through ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in the defence sector. Such tours help the Academia and Industry get a first-hand experience of the needs of the Armed Forces in operationally challenging terrain and find indigenous, tailor-made technical solutions for the same,” sources added.