New Delhi. Making a strong push for the use of indigenous technology by the armed forces, the Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval said that it would give the country an edge over its adversaries.

General Rawat said India will fight the next war with indigenous weapons and win it, and the time was ripe to focus on future warfare. “We are looking at systems for future warfare. We have to start looking at development of cyber, space, laser, electronic and robotic technologies and artificial intelligence,” he said at the 41st DRDO directors conference here.

Lauding the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Army chief said it has made strides to ensure that the needs of the armed forces are met through home-grown solutions. He said while preparing systems for future warfare the military establishment and DRDO needs to focus on “non-contact warfare.”

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, accompanied by the NSA and the three chiefs of the armed forces paid tributes to former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Known as the ‘Missile Man’, Kalam was considered the father of the country’s missile programme.

Doval said niche technologies have to be need based and they can make India more secure. “We have to make a hard assessment of what we need to give us an edge over our adversaries,” he said.

Doval said armies that were better equipped have always decided the destiny of mankind and India historically has always been a runner-up. “There is no trophy for the runner up. Either you are better than your adversaries or you are not there at all,” he said.

Doval identified two key factors that will shape global politics— technology and money saying winning will depend on a country’s strength in these two categories. Of these, he said, technology is more important.