New Delhi: Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat Wednesday suggested that the technical textiles industry to develop clothing that can help soldiers sustain in extreme cold conditions and hot climate.
“We have a huge stake in techno-textiles. We are large users of textiles that use technology. We are hopeful that techno-textile entrepreneurs and those already in the field, will help us in the kind of textiles that we are looking at,” Rawat said at a conference on technical textiles here.
He said that soldiers are serving in altitudes on the northern borders where the temperature falls to as low as minus 50-degree Celsius in the winters and jawans serving in desert areas where temperature rises to as high as plus 58 degrees Celsius in summers.
“So we are looking at the kind of clothing that can sustain our soldiers in this kind of extreme climate,” he said.
In the last one-two years, domestic industries are innovating products and the defence has now started placing orders for such clothing.
“If we find that this thing can take-off and support us, we will not hesitate in putting the entire clothing or techno-clothing that we are using in the armed forces on the positive indigenisation list, which we were earlier calling negative list for imports..We will completely ban imports of these items and make sure that defence services depend only on the Indian industry as part of our Atmanirbhar Bharat support,” Rawat said.
He also said that the armed forces are looking for clothing that can help differentiate between friends from foes.
Explaining this, he said such clothing can have special parameters, or special markings, or special design which when one look through binocular or other equipment will reflect differently.
Rawat asked whether it is possible for the industry to develop a kind of material that can be used for water-proofing and having elasticity.
“We will not hesitate to take your people to our forward locations to see what kind of material we are using. We would like you to come and support us,” he said.
Further, he said that “now we are” venturing into the space sector and have created a space agency under the CDS and this is now going to move forward and “we will now have people operating from space” and they would require special clothing.
For troops operating in special operations, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) said can the industry look at creating clothing which can be anti-IR (infra-red) reflecting.
“When our troops go into enemy territory and have to go deeper inside, enemies have got lasers and sensing devices…Which can help them pick a person who has gone inside. Can we have clothing that reflects this and does not allow a person to be picked up by radar or infrared device,” he asked.
He also suggested a textile that can repel insects and mosquitos.
The defence forces also use a lot of leather products, which he said can be replaced with lightweight clothing materials.
PTI
