Future wars will be fought in difficult terrain: Army Chief

Re-emphasising on the urgent need for modernisation of Armed forces, Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat on Monday said the future wars will be fought in difficult terrain.

Speaking at the annual Army Tech seminar, ARTECH here, Gen Rawat said, ''There is a huge requirement of modernisation of our armed forces, in every field. The future wars will be fought in difficult terrains and circumstances. We have to be prepared for them.''

Acknowledging the fact that the modernisation of forces was on right track, the Army Chief said, ''Good headway has been made in light weight bullet-proof material and fuel cell technology. The journey has begun and this must continue, we are confident that if we get support from industry, we will walk the extra mile to ensure that we utilise the technology you give us.''

Meanwhile, he also vouched for indigenous war weapons, to fight the next wars.

''We would like to gradually move away from imports (in Defence technology) because for a nation like ours, the time has come to ensure that we fight the next war with home-made solutions,'' said Gen Rawat.

Few months back, the Army had finalised plans to replace the ageing weapons and acquire seven lakh rifles,  44,000 light machine guns (LMGs) and nearly 44,600 carbines.