Mhow: To confront the unpredictable character of contemporary warfare, Defence minister Rajnath Singh emphasised the necessity for India to embrace cutting-edge technologies, improve military cooperation, and develop a unified national security plan.
On Wednesday, Singh said during the last session of the first tri-service Ran Samvad conference, which was held at Mhow, that cyberwar, artificial intelligence, drones, and satellite-enabled monitoring were more important in 21st-century conflicts than troop strength or arsenals.
“Precision-guided weapons, real-time intelligence and data-driven information have become the keystone of success in any war,” he stated. Furthermore, consider this shift in light of the broader idea of “total national security,” which holds that the nation can no longer be secured by war force. “Soldiers on the borders are no longer the only aspect of national security. It concerns our industry, education, technology, and economics. Every individual and every sector must contribute,” he said.
The Defence minister also emphasised that in today’s age of non-linear, multi-domain warfare, there could be no fixed doctrine of war.
“The times we live in have only one doctrine—that there is none. The circumstances and challenges are changing so fast that every country is forced to remain flexible and responsive with its strategy,” he noted. He further stated that contemporary conflicts have shifted beyond earth, sea, and air to outer space and cyberspace, requiring not only defensive readiness but also offensive strategies.
Drawing reference from the recent military conflict Operation Sindoor, Singh called it a glaring indicator of India’s increasing technological supremacy. He attributed the success of the operation to indigenous platforms and smooth jointness of the three services, reiterating that the lessons learned from the operation underscored the imperative for more developed cyber and information warfare capabilities. “Operation Sindoor provided us with a glimpse of the type of challenge and response that can help us in any future conflict,” he said, reaffirming the non-negotiability of self-reliance as an un-abandonable pillar of national security.
The Defence minister also emphasised that surprise, combined with warfare by technology, had emerged as a determining element in today’s battles. “Drone attacks, hypersonic missiles, cyber-attacks and artificial intelligence-based decision making are giving the latest challenges to modern warfare,” he said. Taking an analogy from the Russia–Ukraine conflict, Singh pointed out the manner in which the war had transformed in only three years from traditional battles to a complex combination of new concepts and technologies.
Praising the progress in indigenisation, Singh said defence production in the country had gone up from Rs 46,425 crore in 2014 to over Rs 1.5 lakh crore in present times, while defence exports had jumped to Rs 23,500 crore. “When the world reads the ‘Make in India’ stamp, it receives both assurance and confidence.”. Self-reliance is no longer a slogan; it is an indomitable pillar of our national security,” he declared.