As Warfare Moves Into Newer Battlefields, Army Chief Explains India's Plan

Making a push for self-reliance, Army Chief General Manoj Pande said that unprecedented changes are taking place in the geopolitical landscape and the country's defence will have to keep evolving to keep up with the changing battle space. At NDTV's maiden Defence Summit, General Pande said that non-state actors are "increasingly gaining access" to modern military technologies.

This trend, he explained, has led to a rise in risk-taking behavior and a lower threshold for the initiation of armed conflicts.

"The fallout is an increased propensity in risk-taking behavior and low threshold for initiation of armed conflicts," General Pande stated, acknowledging the challenges posed by the changing dynamics in modern warfare.

"Amidst all of above, the legacy challenges of unsettled borders continue. Newer threats in the conflict spectrum have added to the complexities," he said.

The Army chief said that "grey zone actions and aggression by our adversaries is manifesting across multiple domains including the military i.e. on land, air and maritime space".

Consequent to all these developments, the battle space has become more "complex, contested and lethal and shall remain so in the future", General Pande said.

He highlighted how warfare has diversified into new domains, including cyber, electromagnetic spectrum, information, and space. General Pande said that the Indian Army is working on adapting to maintain a competitive edge as battlegrounds undergo a paradigm shift in modern warfare.

"Amidst this complicated canvas that I just described, our nation continues to rise. As a nation, we have envisioned, and taken up the resolve to emerge as a developed nation when we celebrate our centenary milestone," he said.

India has set the vision of becoming a developed a nation by 2047 when it completes 100 years since independence.

"The aspirations of rising India shall span across expanding strategic horizons. The foremost implications for us therefore is to ensure that the nation's security is not impacted in any way so that the progress continues unabated," General Pande said.

"We are working on 45 niche technologies and 120 indigenous projects which have implications for the military. The Indian Army's vision is to transform into a modern, agile, adaptive, technology enabled, future-ready force capable to deter and win wars in a multi-domain operational environment to protect our national interest," he said.