Tue Oct 22 16:45:13 UTC 2024: Published – October 22, 2024 10:15 pm IST – NEW DELHIVice Chief of the Indian Navy Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan addresses a press conference, in New Delhi on October 22, 2024. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The Navy has set up two special task forces headed by Rear Admirals to look for imbibing and inducting niche technologies, said Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan. He said they were looking for new technologies not only to plug the capability gaps but also to acquire the next level of technologies.
These task forces are in addition to the Navy’s technology development accelerator cell (TDAC).“We want to induct technologies as fast as possible. We ensured that the three task forces are not working on the same technologies. They work in different areas. They are looking at fuses, radars, quantum computing, interface devices, electronic and weapon technologies, and indigenisation of ammunition…,” Vice Adm Swaminathan said in response to a question from The Hindu at a curtain raiser event on the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) seminar, Swavlamban to be held next week.
The TDAC would continue the process of engaging with start-ups and MSMEs, while the special task forces would work in smaller areas but hopefully with quicker turnaround times, he said.
Speaking on the highlights of Swavlamban 2024 with the theme ‘Strength and Power through Innovation and Indigenisation’, scheduled to be held on October 28 and 29, the Vice Chief said the event would showcase the remarkable innovation and indigenisation efforts of the armed forces, innovation partners and the Indian industry, and that this year’s event was envisaged to be larger and more impactful than before, and would focus on technological advancements that would strengthen India’s defence capabilities significantly.
In the last two years, a total of 22 Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) of approximate value of about ₹2,200 crore were issued through various challenges launched to the indigenous start-ups and MSMEs, among which 13 AoNs worth ₹1,194 crore were converted into contracts.
Vice Adm Swaminathan also launched the maiden set of five Hackathon Challenges for Swavlamban, a national-level competition aimed at addressing real-world operational challenges with innovative technological solutions. The five challenges include speech separation; drone swarm coordination; navigation and real-time tracking of flying objects; application load balancer on load stock; and maritime situational awareness.This year’s edition will feature a range of activities, including unveiling of challenges, release of Swavlamban 3.0 Document, discussions during domain-specific sessions on niche technologies, funding the innovation ecosystem and felicitation of innovators. There is a prize pool of ₹25 lakh for each problem statement with ₹3 lakh for the first prize and ₹2 lakh for the second prize.
With a focus on India’s advanced industries, participants will get the opportunity to collaborate, innovate and present solutions across multiple technological domains, the Vice Chief added. The results of the Hackathon will be announced during Swavlamban 2024.
Published – October 22, 2024 10:15 pm IST
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