Intensify standardisation to avoid logistics nightmare:Antony

New Delhi, Jan 21 (UNI) With India broadbasing its relations in in procurement and development of defence equipment, and increasing role of private firms in the field, Defence Minister A K Antony today urged intensification of standardisation and codification efforts to ''avoid getting trapped in a logistics nightmare.'' ''As we increasingly globalise and cooperate across international borders on the development, production and procurement of defence stores and items with many countries, as the number of entities involved in defence material production and management grows rapidly, as the number of players, particularly from the private sector, increase with the introduction of the offset policy, it becomes all the more important to intensify our standardisation and codification efforts if we are to avoid getting trapped in a logistics nightmare,'' he said, in his address at the National Seminar on Defence Standardisation here.

Terming the seminar was ''an ideal platform'' for all the concerned players - the research and development agencies, production agencies, quality assurance agencies and the user agencies - to come together on a common platform to debate on and evolve better methods for the scientific management of the defence inventory, Mr Antony also called them to restrict links within themselves but to look globally.

''..we in the defence sector are not an island unto ourselves.

We need to not only link our efforts with our national standards organisation - The Bureau of Indian Standards - but also with international organisations,'' he said, adding he was happy to know the Directorate of Standardisation was working towards cooperation with international organisations like the Allied Committee-135 and expects to become a member of that group soon.

The two-day seminar on ''Synergising Defence, Industry and Technology through Standardisation: Perspective concerns and Spin offs'', organised by the Directorate of Standardisation under the Defence Procurement Department, aims at leveraging the concepts of standardisation to a national level in order to optimise the operational efficiency of the Armed Forces.

Senior functionaries of the Defence Ministry, representatives of three Services, DRDO, PSUs and representatives of major private sector industries besides delegates from US, Russia, South Africa and France are participating in this event.

The Directorate has recently embarked upon measures to upgrade the country's defence standardisation and codification procedures at par with international standards. It is also preparing standards for various defence equipment, weapons and other stores thus leading to better battle preparedness for the fighting forces. Inclusion of a mandatory clause for provision of technical parameters for codification in future procurements will ensure codification of defence equipment at the time of introduction into service.

UNI VD SP RAI2008