Cyberattacks, info war to dominate future conflicts: IAF Chief

New Delhi, April 12

The future warfare is likely to be hybrid in nature wherein weapons such as economic strangulation, information blackout, computer virus and hypersonic missiles would be used, Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari said today.

“Cyber and information” have become the modern tools for shaping the battlefield, Air Chief Marshal said in his speech at an event organised by the All India Management Association (AIMA).

Changing face of warfare

In the next war, the enemy might not be a country or an organisation. In the future, the attack could be on all fronts, ranging from economic strangulation to diplomatic isolation and military standoffs to information blackouts. Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, IAF Chief

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A well-created narrative in the information domain to adversely affect the enemy, can have devastating effects, he noted.

“Traditionally, wars have been fought on the land, at sea, in the air and to some extent, in space. In the past two decades, this spectrum has increased to encompass cyber and information domains. The first four domains are physical in nature and the other two virtual,” he said.

Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari further said, “As we become more and more interconnected, a cyber-attack on our networks can cripple command and control structures.

There is need to “reimagine, reform, redesign and rebuild our traditional war-fighting machinery and adapt to this new emerging paradigm,” the IAF Chief said.

“In the next war, the enemy might not be a country or an organisation. In the future, the attack could be on all fronts, ranging from economic strangulation to diplomatic isolation and military standoffs to information blackouts. All this will happen well before the first bullet is fired or the first aircraft goes across the border,” Chaudhari noted.