Theme: Defence | The new grammar of war: How emerging technologies have changed warfare

It is said that wars don’t change, but weapons do. We can find that conflicts are now fought in new and innovative ways. Experts note that wars are fought on a combination of conventional and unconventional strategies, methods and tactics. Emerging technologies, like drones and Artificial Intelligence, are used to attack and sabotage the enemy without even getting into a battlefield. How can the Indian defence dispensation stop these attacks? In this episode of the businessline’s State of the Economy podcast, Dalip Singh talks to Lt Gen (Retired) Vinod G Khandare, Principal Advisor to Ministry of Defence, about the role of emerging technologies in modern warfare. In the podcast, they discuss how the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has shown the changing nature of warfare. They talk about the complexity of different forms of warfare, including conventional, sub-conventional, and unconventional. They discuss India’s defence acquisition process, the armed forces’ R&D initiatives and collaborations with top universities and research institutes and strategic partnerships. They also discuss the role played by start-ups, MSMEs and venture capitalists. In the podcast, Lt Gen Khandare talks about how the India’s military leadership approaches emerging technologies. He also talks about the need for training troops and the paramilitary on these technologies to ensure all segments of the defence establishment are prepared to meet these challenges.