In pursuit of its quest for transformation, the Indian military took an important step by organising a tri-services seminar, Ran Samwad-2025, on 26-27 August. It focused on the ‘Impact of Technology on Warfare’, with two sub-themes: ‘Emerging Technologies & Impact on Future Warfare’ and ‘Reforms in Institutionalised Training to Catalyse Technological Enablement’. The format of the seminar, held at the Army War College in Mhow, came as a breath of fresh air. As a departure from the past, most of the speakers were middle-ranked officers — the ‘practitioners’ of warfighting — who spoke candidly, with ample time for questions and interactions with the audience.
Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh, Chief of the Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi also addressed the seminar. The Defence Secretary, DRDO Secretary, veterans, serving officers from the three services and Central Armed Police Forces, defence experts, academic researchers and industry representatives were present as well. The proceedings were open to the media and attended by 18 defence advisors of foreign countries.
The discussions included a wide-ranging exploration of technology and warfare, but what still looms large is whether we have the frameworks to translate these ideas into real transformation.
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What was discussed?
CDS General Anil Chauhan set the ball rolling by highlighting that Viksit Bharat also needs to be sashakt, surakshit and aatmanirbhar (militarily strong, secure and self-reliant) not only in technology but also in ideas and practice. In contemporary times, the impact of technology on warfare is multi-dimensional and outpacing the human capability to comprehend and anticipate.
Talking of future trends in warfare, the CDS emphasised the increased propensity among nations to use force, as political objectives can be quickly achieved in short-duration wars with high-end military technology. There is no longer a clear distinction between war and peace, and the era of declared wars is over. The measure of victory is no longer in terms of territory captured or men and material destroyed, but the imposition of psychological defeat using high-end technology and narrative management.
As part of the first sub-theme — ‘Emerging Technologies & Impact on Future Warfare’ — detailed presentations were given by officers of all ranks. The subjects covered were:
- Study of recent conflicts/engagements and their impact on warfare.
- Impact of emerging technologies on warfighting.
- Exploitation of technology for information war and narrative management.
- Need for faster timelines from conceptualisation to production of military hardware.
- Artificial intelligence-driven autonomous drone swarms in multi-domain operations.
- Actualising emerging technologies in Indian Armed Forces.
On the second sub-theme — ‘Reforms in Institutionalised Training to Catalyse Technological Enablement’ — the following presentations were made:
- Integration of emerging technologies through training initiatives.
- Integration of autonomous unmanned systems in land warfare.
- Integration of technology for future-ready N
- Integration of lessons learnt from contemporary conflicts and exercises in the Indian Air Force.
- Disrupting technologies and future logistics supply chain warfare.
- Integrating space-based surveillance and communications for modern C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance).
- Way forward to align training initiatives with technological requirements in the theaterisation construct.
Service Chiefs chip in
The message of the Air Chief was simple: air power will remain central to India’s ability to shape, escalate, and conclude conflicts in the future.
Citing Operation Sindoor, he said air power was the principal instrument of escalation management and conflict termination. He emphasised that speed, reach, and precision converge to give political leadership credible options in war and limited war alike.
Since drones dominated the discourse at the seminar, the ACM said, “Just drones are not enough.” He reinforced that there is also a need for next-generation weapons, jammers, electronic warfare systems, and precision strike capabilities. He ruled out fully autonomous aerial systems replacing manned aircraft in the foreseeable future, but expected manned and unmanned systems to team up soon. He stressed that self-reliance across the entire electronic warfare (EW) cycle — from sensors to shooters — is critical.
The Air Chief also cautioned against aping foreign models for creation of theatre commands. He said that the seamless and efficient jointness in higher decision-making by the Chiefs of Staff Committee, chaired by the CDS during Operation Sindoor, proved his point. The present system, he argued, could be further refined by creating a ‘Planning and Coordination Centre’ at the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS).
The Navy Chief highlighted that the Indian Navy has been a trailblazer in self-reliance and indigenisation, setting benchmarks for the armed forces through its long-standing collaboration with Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and naval shipyards. He emphasised that the navy was continuously adopting and adapting new technologies while training its personnel. He also said that the Indian Navy was committed to tri-services integration and the creation of theatre commands.
Raksha Mantri’s guidance
The Raksha Mantri emphasised the need for joint fighting capabilities, which he said was one of the key reasons behind the success of Operation Sindoor. Citing the experience of recent conflicts, he noted that warfare is changing fast, even during the course of a conflict, and India must be prepared for anything from a two-month to even a five-year war. He also said that technology has to be imbibed at a faster rate.
Talking about future wars, Rajnath Singh said: “Sheer numbers of soldiers or the size of weapon stockpiles are no longer enough. Cyber warfare, artificial intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite-based surveillance are shaping the wars of the future. Precision-guided weapons, real-time intelligence and data-driven information have now become the cornerstone of success in any conflict.”
CDS sums up
The CDS rightly pointed out that most of the ideas are aspirational, and the challenge lies in bridging the gap between what we have and what we aspire to. He said a Future Warfare Course has been started and a Future Operations Analysis Group is being conceptualised to keep pace with the advent of military technology and its impact on warfare. General Chauhan mooted the concept of Hybrid Scholar-Warriors who can win future technology-driven wars. He also stressed the need to develop capabilities to conduct multi-domain operations encompassing land, air, sea, space, electromagnetic and cyber domains. This, he said, would be the subject of the next Ran Samwad in February 2026.
The CDS concluded by laying out seven lessons from Ran Samwad.
First, the democratisation of the means of violence — or high-end technology becoming affordable — and the ensuing attrition is levelling the power balance. Second, precision is replacing mass. Third, warfare is shifting from human-led to machine-led. Fourth, narrative-building during operations is as important as winning the war. Fifth, information warfare must be integrated into kinetic operations. Sixth, there is a need to evolve a UAS and counter-UAS framework. Seventh, legacy technologies continue to be important and must be invested in, along with dual-use and disruptive technologies.
The CDS clarified that despite dissonance over the model for tri-services jointness and integration, the armed forces are committed to adopt a consensual approach. Indirectly, he conceded that most of these issues should have been resolved a decade ago.
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Ran Samwad’s unanswered questions
Ran Samwad ticked all the boxes as far as academic and aspirational discussion on the ‘Impact of Technology on Warfare’ was concerned. Some pressing questions, however, went unaddressed.
To start, where is the government-approved integrated framework or plan for execution of transformation, of which the integration of emerging technologies is an intrinsic part? And what are the timelines for this?
More importantly, where is the National Security Strategy and the contingent National Defence Policy from which the transformation plan must flow? Last but not least, where is the government’s budgetary commitment for this transformation? Neither the Raksha Mantri nor the CDS, nor any other speaker, mentioned these fundamentals.
The answer to all the above is that none of the prerequisites for transformation formally exist.
The little or no progress on tri-services integration and creation of theatre commands, which resonated during Ran Samwad, is a classic example of how holistic transformation is impossible without these fundamentals. In the existing functional system, with the defence budget hovering at 2 percent of GDP for the last 11 years — the lowest since 1962 — only piecemeal, incremental change is feasible. The end result is that the bulk of the armed forces are prepared for yesterday’s wars, with limited capability for today’s wars and no formal plan for future wars.
The China model for transformation is instructive. It was in the same boat as India at the turn of the century. Both had adopted and adapted to the Air Land Battle concept by 2005, as practised by the US in Gulf War I, 1991. Keeping in view the next transformation of the US Army, which began in earnest after Gulf War II, China began conceptualising its own, which it executed from 2015 with clear timelines. By contrast, over the last two decades, successive governments and the military in India have suffered from a strange inertia with respect to national security and failed to prepare for future wars.
During Ran Samwad, many speakers, including the Raksha Mantri and the CDS, quoted from India’s ancient military wisdom. However, they conveniently forgot that India’s large feudal armies were repeatedly defeated by much smaller but better armed and equipped invading forces. Including, ironically, a bunch of merchants who conquered India by better equipping and training Indians.
The enemy is at the gates. It is time to catch the bull by the horns. Formalise a National Security Strategy and National Defence Policy for transformation of the military by 2035, with clear timelines and a committed surge in the defence budget to 4 per cent of GDP.
Lt Gen H S Panag PVSM, AVSM (R) served in the Indian Army for 40 years. He was GOC in C Northern Command and Central Command. Post retirement, he was Member of Armed Forces Tribunal. Views are personal.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)