Army Chief announces 2-year plan to boost data-driven ops

Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Thursday announced that a period of two years -- 2026 and 2027 -- will be used to strengthen the ‘networking’ of the force and make it more ‘data-driven’ for battles of the future.

General Dwivedi, announced this at the Army Day Parade at Jaipur on Thursday, adding “this focus will further improve connectivity, information flow and coordination across the force, enabling timely and well-informed decisions”.

The Army Chief also posted a message for his 1.2-million-strong force saying 2026 and 2027 had been declared as “years of networking and data-centricity to transform the Army into a data-driven, network-enabled and fully integrated Army with all other stakeholders, so as to win wars in a multi-domain environment.

The phrase ‘networking and data-centricity’ in armed forces refers to building a digitally connected military where data flows seamlessly across units, enabling faster decisions, resilient communication and integrated operations.

Network centricity will alter results in future wars. The side that decides faster, will have the upper hand. While data-centricity ensures informed decisions. That speed for decision making needs data and satellite images to travel faster to commanders on ground and also at the senior level. The two-year focus is part of the ‘decade of transformation’ announced by the Army in 2023.

This is the second major change announced by the Army Chief in the past two days. Earlier on January 13, revealed that the government has approved a long-pending proposal for setting up Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs). The first such unit is planned to come up under the China-focused 17 Mountain Strike Corps. As per the plan, the two division-size formation of the Mountain Strike Corps would be converted into four IBGs to be headed by a Major General-rank officer, the Army Chief said.

The IBGs are envisioned as agile, brigade-sized combat formations. Each of these will have elements from the infantry, artillery, armoured units, engineers, signals, air defence, and other arms and services, and can launch an operation within 48 hours when tasked.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister, speaking at the Army Day celebrations in Jaipur, said Operation Sindoor emerged as a balanced military response amidst the uncertainties prevailing worldwide, and it would be remembered in history as a symbol of India’s courage, strength, restraint and national character.

Earlier at the parade in Jaipur, the Army Chief also mentioned the activities of the year gone by and Operation Sindoor.