“World Seeing A Situation Of Return To Conflict”: Army Chief

The geopolitical landscape is facing unprecedented challenges and today nations have shown the willingness to use hard power, the Chief of Army Staff, General Manoj Pande, said at the maiden NDTV Defence Summit today.

The Army chief said the world is witnessing a situation of return of conflict for nations to achieve political objectives, adding that” While conventional warfare has gone under changes, emerging technologies today are not central only to rich nations.  Disruptive technology is transforming warfare.” 

General Pande stressed the fact that we need to secure our national interest and the focus should be on possessing capabilities that require continuous progression. Highlighting the vision of the Army, the COAS said, the Indian Army, a large land-based force, has to transform into an agile, future-ready force that can operate in a multi-domain environment and have synergy with other forces. These elements are important for the force to be future-ready.

The Army Chief said, “Swadeshikaran (indigenisation) se sashaktikaran (empowerment)” is a work in progress. All sectors have a crucial role to play. It is essential to develop core competencies.

Aatmanirbharta or self-reliance in defence manufacturing and procurement has been a vision as well as a goal of governments. The Indigenous defense industry is critical for war-fighting capability. The Army Chief said the disruption in the supply chain in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has highlighted how wars can disrupt in supply of technology and weapons and it also entails the risk that nations may not transfer critical technology. To pursue our aspirations, self-reliance is important and sustenance of the existing ones is necessary too. 

The transformational nature of war hybridization of threats and the emergence of cyber war has brought the focus on the development of safeguarding platforms with technology.

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cyber biotechnology, and space – It is essential to harness these technologies and use them in defense, the Army Chief said, adding that our technological prowess has been a driver for global tech. The government has taken initiatives to promote an effective ecosystem in the country that enables simplification of industry in licensing, foreign investment, and Research and Development projects. The establishment of defence corridors and others are such steps.