India strengthening military for 5th-gen warfare: Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said India is strengthening its military for 'fifth-generation warfare' with new technologies like AI and drones. He highlighted groundbreaking reforms to boost self-reliant defence manufacturing and preparedness.

Era of Fifth-Generation Warfare

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that India is strengthening its military capabilities across multiple domains and the government has brought groundbreaking and structural reforms to give defence manufacturing a huge push.

Speaking at the NDTV Defence Conclave, Rajnath Singh also talked about the technological changes that have impacted weapons, military capabilities and war-fighting, saying the modern era represents “fifth generation of warfare”. He referred to drones, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and hypersonic systems impacting the defence sector. "Today we are in the era of fifth-generation warfare, where, along with land, water, and air, cyber, space, and the human mind have also become new areas of war," Singh said. "Today supply chains are also becoming a new ground of geopolitical conflict. New technologies like drones, artificial intelligence, quantum, and hypersonic are changing the shape of the entire defence sector," he added.

Focus on 'Atmanirbhar' Defence Ecosystem

The Defence Minister said that the conclave was being held at a time when the global security environment was changing rapidly. He said the methods of warfare are also changing “because new technologies are also being invented very rapidly”.

Highlighting India's defence sector reforms over the past 12 years, Singh said the country's approach towards strengthening national security had undergone a significant change, with a focus shifting from meeting immediate requirements to building a self-reliant and future-oriented defence ecosystem. "In the last 12 years, the capability of our defence sector has not only increased, but our approach to strengthening national security has also seen a big change. Now our focus is not limited to fulfilling current needs only. Rather, today we are also moving rapidly in the direction of building a 'Atmanirbhar' and future-oriented defence ecosystem," he said.

Initiatives for Advanced Technologies

He added that institutional and structural reforms in the defence sector had strengthened India's preparedness and provided new momentum to defence manufacturing. "In the last 12 years, ground-breaking institutional and structural reforms have taken place in India's defence sector and this has given a lot of strength to our defence preparedness. Defence manufacturing has also got a new momentum and national security has also become stronger," Singh said.

The Defence Minister also highlighted initiatives aimed at promoting advanced technologies in defence, including the establishment of the Defence AI Council. He said DRDO had established a research centre to promote indigenous quantum capabilities and a policy framework had also been issued . On hypersonic technology, Singh said India had successfully conducted flight trials of a long-range hypersonic missile and tested long-duration scramjet engines.

"On the basis of all these things, it can be said that whether it is contact warfare or non-contact warfare, kinetic warfare or non-kinetic warfare, India's forces are continuously strengthening their capability and preparedness even more rapidly in every dimension," he said.

Singh also compared the transformation in defence technology with the evolution of telecommunications, saying the journey from 1G to 5G was not only about faster connectivity but also about changing communication systems. (ANI)

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