"It's an operation in progress": Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi on Operation Sindoor

Speaking to ANI, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi said, "The Operation Sindoor is under pause, it is still underway. As a Naval Chief, I will reserve my comments on this. It's an operation in progress."

On counter-drone systems, he said that non-contact warfare will stay, and this area of weapons and equipment was not catered to 10-12 years ago.

"It is undeniable that non-contact warfare is going to stay. In it, drones and loitering munitions and therefore, defence against them in terms of counter-drone systems, there is a whole series of weapons and equipment that one had probably not catered for 10-12 years ago," he said on Thursday.

Earlier, Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, accompanied by Chairman of Solar Industries India Limited, Satyanarayan Nuwal, reviewed the manufacturing processes of various defence products at the firm's headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday.

Speaking to ANI, the Navy Chief lauded the products and progress made by Solar Industries India Ltd. He added that there needs to be synergy between the public and private sectors, as the latter is new in defence production.

"It's really eye-opening to see what progress has been made by Solar (Solar Group) in the last 14-15 years. As far as the synergy between the public and private sectors in the defence ecosystem is concerned, it is a must because some public sector companies have been working in this field for many decades, and private companies are relatively new. So there is a need for them to talk to each other, learn from each other," Admiral Tripathi told ANI.

Chairman of Solar Industries India Ltd, Satyanarayan Nuwal, said that they showed the Navy Chief their drones and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). They also showed the navy officials their Counter-Unmanned Aerial System, Bhargavastra.

Talking to ANI, Satyanarayan Nuwal said, "Today, we mainly showed our facility with drones and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). We showed the composite manufacturing unit of UAS. We also showed Bhargavastra (Counter-Unmanned Aerial System) to them...This counter-drone system is a significant thing...Considering present situations, we learned that the biggest need is for long-range missiles. We have already presented a proposal in this regard..." (ANI)