Ukraine War Teaches Us To Be "Self-Reliant": Chief of Defence Staff

Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan on Friday said that the biggest lesson from the Ukraine conflict is that "we need to be self-reliant," as India cannot be dependent on the supply of weapon systems from "outside."

"If you ask me, some of the lessons from this particular war would be that we have to be self-reliant. Actually, that's the biggest lesson for us. So, we can't be dependent on supplies of our weapon systems, et cetera, from outside. That's the one big lesson that we take from this particular conflict," Anil Chauhan said while speaking at a panel discussion on 'The Old, The New, and The Unconventional: Assessing Contemporary Conflicts', during the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.

The Ministry of External Affairs is organising the Raisina Dialogue in collaboration with the Observer Research Foundation (URF) from March 2-4.

The conference which is being organised under the theme "Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in the Tempest," will witness the participation of representatives from over 100 countries.
Mr Chauhan during the panel discussion said that any conflict can be looked at from a number of perspectives and viewpoints.

"So you can have a perspective from a political point of view, probably from an economic point of view or a diplomatic point of view. But as an army officer and as a Chief of Defence Staff, I see this war from the point of view of a military practitioner actually. So, we are looking at what kind of lessons from this particular war are applicable in the Indian context," he said.

The panel discussion was also attended by Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, General Angus Campbell and the US former Secretary of Defence, Jim Mattis.

On the power of narratives, Mr Chauhan said that: "I think, as far as combatants are concerned, they should be focusing more on kinetic operations. Narratives will be built around it. That's my view. But war is not fought only by competence in today's modern war. So that's where, actually, the battle of the narrative comes in, because the whole nation actually gets involved in it."

He said that armed forces should focus on kinetics, and that will build the narrative. If you lose that, then the narrative will be entirely different.

"Narratives are important, yes. I cannot deny the significance of narrative because it gives you a notion of victory for the nation, actually. So even a smaller victory can be portrayed as a big victory. So it's important. But for us soldiers, I think we should also focus on the kinetic aspects of it," the Chief of Defence Staff said.