British general finds strategic perspective by Indian experts enlightening

Britain and India have significant defence cooperation and the Royal Air Force will soon be sending pilots to India for training, Maj Gen John Kendall, Deputy Commander Field Army, said in Chandigarh on Friday. He is leading a British Army Delegation to the Military Literature Festival.

“I think that’s symbolic of how strong our shared heritage and our present ties are. For the Army, we have Exercise Ajaya Warrior, where our soldiers work together. We have recently exercised our carrier strike groups together, he said.

He said that it was also important to listen to different perspectives and he particularly enjoy listening to perspectives on China and Gaza and military thought around multi-domain operations like Operation Sindoor.

“For the UK, we have slightly different focusses. But your perspectives still add value. We are slightly more interested in Russia and how we support Ukraine,” he said. “We have, for example, trained over 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers. We help train their commanders, help share intelligence with them and we help equip them. So we know how good our training is, soldier for soldier,” he said.

Paying tribute to India, as the country that raised the largest-ever all-volunteer force in the Second World War and fought on every front in the First World War, he said that just as the Indian Army and the British Army in 1915 dug trenches, we see very similar trenches today. “But that is not just 1915, it is how do we add technology,” he remarked.

Maj Gen Kendall said that shared heritage was important because the United Kingdom was becoming a more diverse nation with a more diverse Army, and therefore it was important for them to recognise the contribution of all their citizens and their heritage.

“Our theories of victory are shaped by our culture and our history. The British will create a very Western way of war by coming to events like this to hear a different perspective. We can modify that and perhaps be a little bit more scientific, a bit more driven by different ideas,” he said. “And as the democratic world faces the autocratic world, alliances and partnerships have never been more important,” he added.