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Ukraine war a ‘living lab’ for taking lessons for future conflicts, says Army chief
Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Wednesday said that the army was tracking the developments in the Russia-Ukraine war closely as the battlefield was akin to a live laboratory in terms of the situation along India’s borders
Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Wednesday said that the army was tracking the developments in the Russia-Ukraine war closely as the battlefield was akin to a live laboratory in terms of the situation along India’s borders, a reference to the military confrontation with Pakistan in May during Operation Sindoor.
“The Ukrainian battlefield is a living lab in terms of the conditions what we are having along our borders…Drones are stalking the armoured columns, electronic warfare systems jamming the radios, precision fires reaching much beyond the 100-km range, info campaigns win wars even before a single shell lands…This is the situation we are facing,” Dwivedi said in his address at the Delhi Defence Dialogue organised by Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
“As far as the future battlefield is concerned, it is the era of jostling and competition. The long peace is declining, and comprehensive conflicts are on the rise,” he said, referring to more than 50 ongoing conflicts involving over 100 nations.
Open source analysis and predictive analysis helped the Indian military a lot during Sindoor 1.0, he said. “A lot of volunteers came forward inside the country, the diaspora came forward and helped us. We were very much empowered as far as Sindoor 1.0 is concerned. We have learnt our lessons. Therefore, whether it is Sindoor 2.0 or any other battle thereafter, we are looking at it in a big way,” he said.
Operation Sindoor marked New Delhi’s direct military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed. India launched the operation in the early hours of May 7 and struck terror and military installations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) before the May 10 ceasefire.
The clash involved fighter jets, missiles, armed drones, and a fierce artillery duel.
The four-day military confrontation with Pakistan was a “compelling example” of modern warfare where precision strike capabilities were deployed in a tight time-frame, chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan said on Tuesday.
“Operation Sindoor is a compelling example of modern warfare, where precision strike capabilities, network-centric operations, digitised intelligence, and multi-domain tactics were effectively deployed within a compressed time-frame,” he said in his special address on Impact of Technology on Modern Warfare at the Delhi Defence Dialogue.
The dialogue brings together policymakers, researchers, industry leaders, and academia to share insights on how new-age technologies can be effectively harnessed for enhancing India’s defence capability.
