New Delhi: Army Chief General M.M. Naravane said India was witnessing trailers of future conflicts and its adversaries will continue with efforts to achieve their strategic aims, talking of the national security challenges emanating from China and Pakistan.

Addressing a seminar themed ‘Contours of Future Wars and Countermeasures’ at the Pragyan Conclave 2022 organised by the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) think tank, he said the country was facing “unique, substantial and multi-domain” security challenges and that developments on the northern borders have adequately underscored the requirement of ready and capable forces with an optimal component of boots on the ground backed by modern technology to preserve the country’s sovereignty and integrity.

Without directly naming China and Pakistan, Gen Naravane said that the disputed borders with nuclear-capable neighbours coupled with state-sponsored proxy war were stretching the security apparatus and the resources.

The seminar was attended by Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and defence attaches of several countries.

He said the Army is focusing on “restructuring, rebalancing and reorienting” its forces and the process has already been initiated and that the force is committed to the theaterisation initiative to ensure tri-services integration.

“The process of integration of three services through theaterisation is already moving ahead under a time-bound plan and the Indian Army is totally committed to this transformation. We are further consolidating our operational experiences to these changes and this shall remain a work in progress,” General Naravane added.

“We are already witnessing trailers of future conflicts. They are being enacted daily on the information battlefield, in the networks and cyber space. They are also being played along, our yet unsettled and active borders,” he said.

“It is for us to visualise, the battlefield contours of tomorrow, based on these trailers. If you look around, you will realise that the sci-fi of yesterday, is the reality of today. We too have to leap-frog to the future, skipping many stages, to an entirely new configuration,” Gen Naravane said.

Gen Naravane said the developments in Afghanistan have again brought to focus the use of proxies and non-state actors to decisive effect.

“These actors thrive on local conditions, innovatively exploit low-cost options to devastating impact and create conditions that limit the full use of sophisticated capabilities which are available to state,” he said. The Army Chief said India’s adversaries will continue to make efforts to achieve their goals against the country.

Referring to “use of grey zone activities in the political, military and economic domains, and do so in a collusive manner,” he said “Our adversary shall continue with their efforts to achieve their strategic aims.”

“The events of 2020 have been testimony to the diversity of security threats in all domains and this has brought the spotlight towards non-contact and grey zone warfare. We need to augment capabilities in both non-contact and contact modes of warfare,” the Army Chief said referring to the eastern Ladakh face-off.

Highlighting the changing nature of conflicts, Gen Naravane, however, said that the ancient Indian wisdom on statecraft and application of force propounded many centuries ago remained “timeless and pertinent” even today. He said that the armed forces have initiated an exploratory project of examining the ancient Indian wisdom and knowledge for contemporary security challenges.

In an oblique reference to China, he also said that some nations are challenging the globally accepted norms and the rules-based order.

“We have also observed, some nations challenging the globally accepted norms, and the rules based order. This challenge has manifested in various forms of, creeping aggression and opportunist actions, to alter the status-quo, keeping the threshold below all-out war,” he said.

On the ceasefire with Pakistan along the Line of Control with Pakistan, the Army Chief said it continued to hold “because we have negotiated from a position of strength”. In a significant move aimed at reducing tensions, the Indian and Pakistani armies on February 25 last year announced that they would cease firing across the LoC while recommitting themselves to a 2003 ceasefire agreement.

Citing last year’s conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Army Chief talked about the importance of modern technology as it firmly underscored the power of artificial intelligence. At the same time, Gen Naravane said that the subsequent mid-air interception of incoming missiles by the US and UAE forces is equally defining. He said the military lexicon has expanded and traditional definitions have undergone a review.

“The more recent strikes last month on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Yemen’s Houthi rebels using armed drones and missiles reflect the rapid proliferation of these disruptive technologies,” he said.

“The concept of victory itself has changed as enduring success, especially against non-state actors, has remained elusive for most,” he said. The Army Chief, however, said the hard power will continue to play an important part in future conflicts.

Referring to India’s first Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat’s comments that “We would like to be an Army that fights and wins its wars with indigenous weapons and equipment,” he highlighted the importance of achieving self-reliance in defence.

“We are witnessing conflicts increasingly transcending, time, space and force dimensions, and enveloping new frontiers. These wars blur the distinction, between combatants and non-combatants, front and rear, often avoid direct military engagements, and resort to extensive use of proxy actors,” he said.