India facing 'unique, substantial' security challenges, says Army Chief Gen MM Naravane
In his indirect reference to China and Pakistan, who have come closer in last couple of years against India, the Indian Army chief said, “We (three Serrvices) are honing our capabilities, to undertake multi-domain operations. The focus is to exploit the potential of these domains, to create strategic effects on the adversaries.”
FollowThe Indian armed forces have undertaken several initiatives to stay a step ahead of India's adversaries. They will continue to gain their strategic objectives -- short of conflict -- by using grey zone activities in the political, military and economic spheres. Army chief Gen MM Naravane said on Thursday.
In his indirect reference to China and Pakistan, who have come closer in the last couple of years against India, the Indian Army chief said, "We (three Services) are honing our capabilities, to undertake multi-domain operations. The focus is to exploit the potential of these domains, to create strategic effects on the adversaries."
Gen Naravane further said that trailers of future conflicts are already being witnessed and that these are being enacted daily on the information battlefield, cyberspace and in the networks.
According to the Army chief, these' trailers' are also being played out along India's yet unsettled and active borders. He said that the battlefield contours of tomorrow need to be visualised based on these trailers.
In 2020, China attempted to capture India's land, which the alert Indian troops in Ladakh and Sikkim thwarted. Pakistan had tried to destabilise India through proxy wars. China's PLA has engaged in a border standoff with India in parts of eastern Ladakh since May 2020. The standoff had even led to the killing of 20 Indian soldiers. China claimed four of its soldiers were killed in the Galwan Valley clash on June 15, 2020.
"The events in 2020 have been testimony to the diversity of security threats in all domains, and this has brought the spotlight towards non-contact and grey-zone warfare," the chief said.
Speaking at an event, "Pragyan Conclave" organised by Delhi-based think tank CLAWS, Gen Naravane said, "We are witnessing conflicts increasingly transcending, time, space and force dimensions, and enveloping new frontiers. These wars blur the distinction between combatants and non-combatants, front and rear, often avoid direct military engagements, and resort to extensive use of proxy actors."
Talking about cyber and non-conventional warfare, the Indian Army chief said, "There is no 'M' Day or 'D' Day, as has been the case earlier. These, along with Diplomatic, Informational, and Economic coercive activities, are already being prosecuted in the Grey Zone." "The aim remains to incapacitate the adversary, disintegrate his sources of power, and render the command and control systems ineffective, to make physical forces redundant," he added.
Without taking China's name, Gen Naravane also attacked them and said, "We have also observed some Nations challenging the globally accepted norms and the Rules-Based Order." He referred to the Dragon's belligerent behaviour in the South China Sea and along the LAC with India.
On Afghanistan, he said that the developments in Afghanistan have again brought to focus "the use of proxies and Non-State actors to decisive effects." He also reiterated that in future conflicts, the troops, on the forward-most locations, ready and in a high state of alertness, may not be the ones to face the first wave of aggression.
On Pakistan, he stated that the ceasefire on the Line of Control continues to hold because "we have negotiated from a position of strength." On China, he added that the developments on "our Northern Borders have also adequately underscored, the requirement of ready and capable forces, with an optimal component of Boots on Ground, backed by modern technology, to preserve our Sovereignty and Integrity."
On future contours of war, he said it would have an overbearing tilt towards modern technologies. From an Indian perspective, "we face unique, substantial and multi-domain challenges. Disputed borders with nuclear neighbours, coupled with State-sponsored Proxy War, stretches our security apparatus and resources."
Further, he said that the 3 R's — Restructuring, Rebalancing and Reorienting of Forces, has already been initiated. "We are further consolidating, from our operational experiences to these changes, and this shall remain a work in progress."
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