Pune, 22 April 2022: 143 officers of the Indian Armed Forces including Seven officers of a friendly foreign country (Sri Lanka) graduated on 22 Apr 22 after successful completion of the Defence Services Technical Staff Course (DSTSC) from the portals of the Military Institute of Technology (MILIT), the only Technology Training Tri Services Institute of the Armed Forces. DSTSC courses are conducted for all arms of the Indian Armed Forces to prepare mid-level officers to tenant Command and staff appointments.

Air Marshal BR Krishna, PVSM, AVSM, SC, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman Chief of Staff Committee (CISC), HQ IDS was the Chief Guest on the occasion. Air Vice Marshal V Rajasekhar, Commandant, MILIT and Senior Faculty members from the three services and other distinguished dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

Mrs Sowrya Maduri, Vice President (DWWA) attended all functions as part of the event and encouraged the spouses of the student officers to participate in welfare activities for troops and society at large.

The Chief Guest felicitated all the graduating officers and presented awards to the meritorious student officers. First in Overall order of merit in DSTSC Army, Navy & Air Force was awarded to Maj Vineet Kumar Malik, Cdr Ravish Chugh & Sqn Ldr Vivek Sharma respectively.  Purple Trophy instituted by the CISC to promote jointness amongst the Tri-service officers was awarded to Lt Col Lokesh Ahlawat.

In his Valedictory address, the Chief Guest stressed upon the requirement of imbibing, absorbing and applying cutting edge technologies in the Armed Forces. He stressed upon requirement of cognoscente leaders who are also well versed with Emerging Technologies. The Chief Guest also stressed upon the officers to remain continually abreast with niche technologies so as to facilitate appropriate induction of equipment in the Armed Forces. Moreover, he advised the officers to be realistic in the formulation of technical requirements so that more projects are fructified under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative.

Praising the initiatives by MILIT, he opined that coupled with contemporary technical training, the endeavour to train the Student Officers on Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, Cyber Security, Internet of Things etc was commendable. At the end of the proceedings, the Chief Guest advised all Graduating Officers to gainfully utilise the knowledge gained at MILIT in their important assignments ahead towards the security of India.