Gen M M Naravane
India is looking at technologies like Blockchain and lasers, among others, as part of its arsenal as previous iconic equipment like the tank and fighter jets may be on their way to becoming obsolete, Army chief General MM Naravane said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a seminar in Delhi, Naravane said “warfare evolves faster than war fighters do”, and added that “icons of the 20th century battlefield — the main battle tank, the large surface combatant, and the modern aircraft — are on the way out”, comparing them to the Sony Walkman” — a portable music player that was popular nearly two decades ago.
Speaking of the Indian forces, he said conventional prowess will be strengthened, but “we are also focusing on dynamic response, actions below the threshold of all-out war, and are refining our plans and capacities in this regard”, along the western border with Pakistan and the northern border facing China.
“We are developing kinetic and non-kinetic responses to address threats. We are also looking at tapping Blockchain technologies, lasers and directed energy weapons for possible military use,” he added.
He also mentioned that India was building capacities in space, cyber, and electronic warfare.
Citing the example of the Balakot airstrikes conducted by the Indian Air Force last year, he said, “The Balakot airstrike saw these short, intense, escalatory cycles, of military activity, in full media glare, where sophisticated information narratives played an equally important role.”
He added that for years, “we were told that if and when the Air Force crosses” the international boundary “it would escalate to full-fledged war” but the Balakot airstrikes “demonstrated that if you play the escalatory game with skill, military ascendancy can be established in short cycles of conflict that do not necessarily lead to war”.
On the topic of technology leadership, he said it needn’t be “demonstrated through live conflict and wars” and cited that China “has not been involved in real, hardcore combat for a few decades now” and yet, “the regular showcasing of military might have created this aura of China being the undisputed military leader in key technological domains, with a deterrence logic of its own”.
Technology, Naravane stressed, “is also tipping doctrinal cycles” as “doctrines are now chasing technologies”.
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