Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Wednesday underlined that the strengths of a conventional force "stand blunted" in the wake of the rise of digital technologies that brought a tectonic shift in the way modern wars are contested.
He revealed the set of digital technologies that are posing some of the most serious challenges to conventional military forces around the world. Among these military platforms are drones equipped with missiles and bombs, loiter munitions that can destroy high-value targets within a specified area, precision attack systems that strike deep inside enemy territory, and star link terminals that aid communication systems in hostile terrain.
He revealed the set of digital technologies that are posing some of the most serious challenges to conventional military forces around the world. Among these military platforms are drones equipped with missiles and bombs, loiter munitions that can destroy high-value targets within a specified area, precision attack systems that strike deep inside enemy territory, and star link terminals that aid communication systems in hostile terrain.
Besides these, General Pande highlighted the importance of electronic warfare suits and micro-electronics in the present geopolitical scenario.
According to him, all the aforementioned military items were "challenging traditional force multipliers."
"Swarming is contesting surging, surveillance and precision are scoring over fire and maneuver, and the light and small are prevailing over the large and heavy. Conventional force ratios which were the measure of military strength and superiority, is the essence of leveraging technology from a warfighting perspective," General Pande said during his address at a military seminar organized by the New Delhi-based defense think tank, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS).
India's top Army officer also suggested that India would have to continuously evolve, both in terms of changing its doctrines and combat strategies to adapt to the changing needs of warfare in current times.
"We need to tailor our doctrines and strategies to the prevalent operational paradigm. Refining operational philosophies, concepts of employment and tactics, commensurate to the combat effects that accrue from new technologies, is important to maximize the battlefield potential of modern weapon systems. This shall remain an ongoing process," he concluded.