Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday said tomorrow’s battlefields will demand swift, coordinated responses across services, warning that future wars will not recognise boundaries between the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Delivering the keynote address at RAN SAMWAD — a first-of-its-kind tri-service seminar on “Impact of Technology on Warfare” — at the Army War College in Dr Ambedkar Nagar, Madhya Pradesh, Chauhan stressed that jointness, self-reliance in defence, and integrated logistics will be decisive in determining outcomes.
He called for institutionalising joint training and rapid absorption of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, cyber capabilities, and quantum computing. The CDS also underlined the need for robust civil-military integration, citing the ongoing effort to develop Sudarshan Chakra — a homegrown missile defence system pitched as both “a shield and a sword”.
Invoking Kautilya, the CDS Chauhan said India has historically been a source of strategic thought, yet lacks serious scholarship on its own wars and strategies. “Research on war, leadership, morale and technology is critical. India must be Sashakt, Surakshit, Aatmanirbhar and Viksit and this can only happen when all stakeholders build future-ready forces together,” he said.
General Chauhan added that RAN SAMWAD was designed to give space to young and mid-level officers who understand technological shifts and whose perspectives must complement the experience of senior leadership.
The two-day seminar is bringing serving professionals to the forefront of strategic dialogue. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will deliver the plenary address on the final day, when several joint doctrines and the Technology Perspective & Capability Roadmap are scheduled for release.
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