NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday the launch of a new “security shield” weapon system that will be expanded across India in the next decade, as the country marked 78 years of independence from British colonial rule.
Modi’s remarks came three months after India and Pakistan engaged in their worst fighting in decades. The clashes included air, drone and missile strikes, as well as artillery and small arms fire along their shared border and inside mainland areas of both countries.
India said it launched operations inside Pakistan on May 6 in response to an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 civilians in April. India described the incident as an act of terrorism orchestrated by Islamabad, a claim Pakistan has denied.
Addressing the country from New Delhi’s 17th-century, Mughal-era Red Fort on Friday, Modi said that India will be launching a new defense system called “Sudarshan Chakra.”
The prime minister said: “I pledge to take this work forward with great commitment for the security of the nation and the safety of citizens in the changing ways of warfare.”
