Post Op Sindoor, India steps up nuclear threat analysis of Pakistan, China
Army has widened the ambit of discussing nuclear threats behind closed doors
The conflict in West Asia, coupled with last year’s skirmish India had with Pakistan, had led the military to draw lessons, including on widening the ambit of assessing nuclear threats from Pakistan and China while focusing on self-reliance in military equipment and supply chains and expanding towards future technologies.
At a strategic level, the Army has widened the ambit of discussing nuclear threats behind closed doors. Speaking at the brainstorming event called ‘Ran Samwad’ here, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi said, “In the past year, we have been discussing nuclear threats at war games. Nuclear is a reality along both our borders. It is mandatory to be discussed. Every day, we are looking at offensive and defensive plans and what action may be needed for protection of forces.”
Later, officials explained that nuclear threats were earlier discussed at the top-most level in the strategic forces command. Now, the widened ambit includes war gaming of threats at the level of Lt General-rank officials at the Corps Commander-level and Army Commander-level. This empowers them with direct knowledge of the kind of nuclear threats to be expected.
The US-Iran conflict and the lessons drawn from it were also discussed at the conference. Officials pointed out that an immediate analysis focuses on the need to have diversity of weapons being deployed; the need to use space for greater control; an increase in surveillance and reconnaissance; a resilient domestic supply chain; and the ability to control choke points, like Iran did in the Strait of Hormuz, can decide outcomes of conflict.
Asked about lessons the Navy had drawn from the West Asian conflict, Navy Chief Admiral DK Tripathi said, “It is the resilience of the supply chains that have been demonstrated by the parties (Iran, US) and the intrinsic capability to carry on the battle.”
The Navy, which has warships in the area, has been monitoring the number of strikes carried out in the conflict. It is being analysed by the headquarters and also the commands. “We are monitoring like a hawk. What is happening, what is working, what is not working, what we can learn from that and what is not to be done,” the Navy Chief said.
The US used aircraft carriers to carry out operations and launch a number of aircraft during the conflict.
Earlier, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, the immediate junior of the Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, tasked with tri-service jointness, integration and operational synergy, pointed out that self-reliance in defence was not just about manufacturing — it was about controlling architectures, software, encryption and data standards of all military platforms.
Air Marshal Dixit added a genuine multi-domain response to threats that needs to integrate intelligence agencies, industry, academia and civil institutions. Crisis coordination cannot be improvised — it must be pre-designed.
