Indian defense chief touts tech-driven ‘military revolution’
The country’s armed forces need to focus on domains such as automation, robotics, and cognitive warfare to gain an upper hand, Anil Chauhan has said
India needs to prioritize innovation, research and development, and diplomatic positioning to achieve success in future wars, Chief of Defense Staff General Anil Chauhan has said.
Speaking on Thursday at the Chanakya Defense Dialogue, an annual conference organized by the Indian Army, Chauhan said warfare constantly reinvents itself.
“Concepts that appear futuristic can become obsolete even before getting implemented,” he said. “Yet this is the risk that all military officers have to undertake.”
The defense chief added that “the ability to visualize, anticipate, and prepare for future conflicts becomes existential for all of us, and it is not an option.”
Chauhan said technology was replacing geography in application of strategy.
”Technology is going to be one of the most defining factors of future war,” he added. “We stand at the cusp of what I have been calling as the third revolution in military affairs, and that’s about convergence in which a number of technologies are converging together to define a war-winning kind of strategy.”
The defense chief said India needed to have a convergence between kinetic and non-kinetic contact and non-contact warfare. “Integrated networks, automation, robotics, and cognitive tools now shape the tempo and outcomes of combat,” he added.
Chauhan said robotics may dominate daily life in the future and would dominate warfare, adding that future conflicts will involve a “man and machine mix.”
The defense chief said geopolitical trends give rise to war, calling warfare “a continuation of politics by other means.” Geopolitics define the type, duration, nature of force, combat, and strategies in war, he noted, emphasizing the need for diplomatic positioning.
In May, India and Pakistan were involved in a four-day military confrontation, which New Delhi codenamed “Operation Sindoor.” India chose a military response to an attack on tourists in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir that claimed 26 civilian lives in April.
India said it killed 40 Pakistani security personnel and about 100 terrorists in the conflict, adding that 11 air bases inside Pakistan were destroyed and significant damage inflicted on the country’s military capabilities.
Pakistan said it shot down six Indian aircraft, a claim that has not been independently verified.
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