Baba Kalyani for defence firing range in Gujarat

Gujarat should develop testing facilities and firing range for the defence sector, said Baba Kalyani, Chairman, CII National Committee on Defence.

Speaking at a seminar on 'Opportunities for Industry in Defence and aerospace', Kalyani called upon the industries to help create testing facilities and firingranges in Gujarat. "The biggest problem in India is the testing capability which needs to be developed. While we have some, we need more such ranges and facilities. Gujarat has a lot of lands, desert lying around a coast. I do not see any reason why we cannot have a firing range here to test missiles, guns and other equipment. It should be based on a user charge basis so that it does not become a burden on anyone", he said.

He added, "I have proposed this model to the government of Gujarat and industries can help us make this happen in creating such facilities."

Alerting industries in the fast-changing world, he said, "We all know technology is extremely important. Whether an industry is small or large, in less than five years, all will move in the direction of digitalisation and the result would be that there would be thousands of engineers with knowledge on artificial intelligence, doing complex things. By 2022, if you are not an industry 4.0, you will not be able to compete. There are a lot of training and programs going on. Every company now has a small team of engineers working on algorithms. Hence, industries need to participate in such events."