Indian Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande says short-swift war wrong assumption, lists threats

New Delhi, March 22

Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande today listed out the threats and challenges facing the country as he said “unsettled borders continued to engage India”.

Infirmities in border management, he said, could lead to a wider conflict, and that “possession of strategic deterrence was essential”. The obvious reference to the “unsettled boundary” was the ongoing border stand-off with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Speaking at a seminar here on ‘India’s territorial capabilities and technology requirements’, General Pande said a prolonged commitment in counter-insurgency operations should not dull the preparedness of the forces. “The spectrum of conflict today cannot be easily characterised into ‘black’ and ‘white’ distinction between war and peace. It has become increasingly dynamic and is shaping into a more contested, complex and lethal manner with each passing day,” he said.

The suppositions on ‘duration of war’ needed to be re-evaluated, he said. “The assumption of a short and swift war may prove to be flawed and we need to be prepared for a full-spectrum conflict, for even a prolonged duration,” said the Army Chief.

The advancements in technology ranged from weaponisation of commercial instruments, digital resilience, communications redundancy and expansion of conflict domains effectively into cyberspace and electromagnetic spectrum, making battlefield dangerously transparent and introducing niche systems and advanced kinetic weapons.

He listed out the Army’s effort to add technology saying “14 projects worth over Rs 61,000 crore were being pursued under the ‘design and develop’ category”. — TNS

Setting priorities

The assumption of a short and swift war may prove to be flawed and we need to be prepared for a full-spectrum conflict, for even a prolonged duration. — Gen Manoj Pande, Army Chief