Soon after taking charge as Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh Saturday asked the Chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force to prepare separate presentations on the challenges and overall functioning of their respective forces.
Singh held a meeting with Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, Chiefof Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa and newly-appointed Navy chiefKarambir Singh at the headquarters of the defence ministry at the Raisina Hillsduring which he was apprised about the security scenario, officials said.
Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik, DefenceSecretary Sanjay Mitra and several top officials of the ministry were alsopresent at the meeting.
Officials said separate wings of the ministry were also toldto prepare presentations which will be reviewed at a meeting soon.
Singh, who was the Home Minister in the previous government,was accorded a grand welcome by the three services chiefs and senior officialswhen he arrived at the defence ministry around noon.
A defence ministry spokesperson said Singh urged all thosewho greeted him to give their best and work towards achieving the “targets”.
Earlier in the day, Singh visited the national war memorialand paid tributes to the fallen heroes.
As defence minister, Singh’s most crucial challenge will beto speed up the long-delayed modernisation of the three services besidesensuring overall coherence in their combat readiness.
His another challenge will be to ensure peace andtranquillity along the frontier with China while developing required militaryinfrastructure to deal with any possible Chinese hostility.
As he took charge of the ministry just three months afterIndia carried out air strikes on a militant training camp in Pakistan’sBalakot, it is expected that he will continue with the policy of hot pursuit indealing with cross border infiltration.
Containing infiltration of militants into Jammu and Kashmirfrom Pakistan will be another key focus area.
As the Defence Minister, Singh will face the challenge ofstrengthening the combat capabilities of the Army, Navy and the Air Force dueto changing regional security matrix and geo-political dynamics.
The forces have been pressing for equipping them to dealwith hybrid warfare and Singh will have to attend to this crucial demand.
The government has been focusing on domestic defenceproduction and Singh will have to carry forward a number of big-ticket reforminitiatives, including implementing the ambitious “strategic partnership”model.
Under the new model, select Indian private firms will beroped in to build military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in Indiain partnership with foreign defence majors.
Singh also faces the challenge of modernising the defenceresearch organisations and various other defence public sector undertakings sothat they can produce state-of-the art military hardware to match requirementof the forces.
He will also have to oversee implementation of major reformsin the 12-lakh strong Army. The Army has already finalised a blueprint for itsreform including right-sizing of the force. His predecessor Nirmala Sitharaman had taken onthe opposition head-on with her fiery defence of the Rafale fighter jet dealand it will be interesting to see how Singh deals with the issue.