Armed forces need to transition as scope of warfare expanding: CDS

The armed forces need to transition as the scope of warfare is expanding, said Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan in his address at the College of Defence Management (CDM), Secunderabad.

The CDS told officers that as warfare expanded from the physical to the synthetic and cognitive realms, the Indian armed forces need to transition towards a capability of carrying out "all domain operations", the Ministry of Defence said today.

Inaugurating the annual seminar on the theme — Multi-Domain Integrated Technologically-Empowered Resilient Armed Forces (MITRA), the CDS said the third revolution in military affairs was characterised by convergence warfare that had a mix of contact and non-contact warfare and old and new domains across all levels of conflict.

General Chauhan said there was a need to establish non-nuclear strategic deterrence, ensuring the ability to win at every level of escalation.

The CDM hosted the annual seminar on February 24-25, with the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, as "knowledge partner". This year’s theme ‘MITRA’ underscores the evolving role of military and war-fighting strategies in an increasingly complex geopolitical and technological landscape.

The seminar served as a strategic platform to align contemporary conflict lessons with India’s unique operational environment, focused on self-reliance and structural reform, with an objective to develop armed forces integrated in action, technology-empowered in execution, and resilient in purpose.

Established in December 1970, the CDM has remained a premier tri-service institution dedicated to equipping military leadership with the contemporary management thoughts, concepts and best practices.