Mumbai, Nov 24: Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Monday said the strength of armed forces lies in synergy and Operation Sindoor is an apt example of this.
He was speaking during the commissioning of INS Mahe, the first of the Mahe-class anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft, in Mumbai.
“The strength of our armed forces lies in synergy,” General Dwivedi said.
The sea, land, skies form the single continuum of national security and together the Army, Navy and the Air Force form the trinity of India’s strategic strength. In the age of multi-domain operations, the country’s ability to act in concert from the depths of the ocean to the highest frontier will determine the security influence of the Indian republic, he said.
The Indian armed forces, he further said, are in operation in every domain, from Ladakh to the Indian Ocean, from information warfare to joint logistics.
“Op (Operation) Sindoor was an apt example of this (the synergy of the armed forces),” the Army chief said.
India carried out military action under Operation Sindoor targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack in April, which claimed the lives of 26 persons.
The Indian Army has launched a series of initiatives under an overall umbrella of transformation in which jointness and integration are important pillars, recognising that modern conflicts will be multi-domain, hybrid and require united national strength, Gen Dwivedi said.
An official said this was also the first time that an Army chief was present at the commissioning of a naval ship.
Following the commissioning of INS Mahe, Gen Dwivedi also awarded Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Commendation to the Navy personnel who played a key role in the commissioning of the ship, a rarity which will become more frequent in days to come as the level of synergy among the three forces increases, the official added.
The Indian Navy plays an important role in the neighbourhood as well as in the global environment in far-off lands where the Army’s efforts can play both a supplementary and a complementary role in soft and hard diplomacy, Gen Dwivedi said and referred to it as smart diplomacy.
The Indian Army and Indian Navy have always stood shoulder to shoulder for HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) missions across the globe or even the amphibious operations, he added.
