India needs capabilities to tackle ‘grey zone’ warfare from China, Pakistan: Army chief

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India needs capabilities to not just negate or mitigate the ‘grey zone’ warfare being pursued by China and Pakistan but also to keep them on the backfoot, General Manoj Pande said on Wednesday, while also underlining the criticality of “strategic deterrence instruments” to ward off full-blown wars.

“Our legacy challenges of unsettled borders continue to engage us. It is important to recognise that infirmities in border management can lead to wider conflict. Therefore, the first imperative that comes across is that – possession of strategic deterrence instruments is essential,” the Army chief said.

Though Gen Pande did not elaborate on this point while speaking at a conference here, it was an obvious reference to the sheer utility of India’s nuclear weapons in deterring China and Pakistan.

Grey zone warfare, in turn, is to exploit the operational space between peace and war to change the status quo or coerce an adversary, which China has mastered over the years with its salami-slicing and other tactics.

“Grey zone aggression is increasingly becoming a preferred strategy of conflict prosecution, with its scope enhanced by technological advancements. Here, I would like to emphasize that our adversaries’ pursuits against us in the grey zone continue even as we speak,” Gen Pande said, without naming China and Pakistan.

“These entail all aspects under the gambit of security and not just exclusive to the military domain. We need capabilities to not just negate or mitigate such attacks, but instead keep the adversary in a reactive mode perpetually,” he added.

Dwelling at length on the lessons learnt from the ongoing Russian-Ukraine, the Army chief said the “most critical conclusion” is that self-sufficiency in critical defence technologies and investments in R&D is an inescapable strategic imperative. “In other words, the nation’s security can neither be outsourced, nor be dependent on the largesse of others,” he said.

The war has also reaffirmed the “relevance of hard power” and the notion of victory still being “land-centric”. Similarly, India needs to be prepared for “a full-spectrum conflict” for long durations, instead of just short swift wars.

“Information operations have assumed a whole new dimension, being unfolded at multiple levels through numerous tools and different domains. Competencies and dedicated strategies need to be in place to win the war of narratives as well,” Gen Pande said.

The Army has put into motion a “transformation roadmap” for infusion of technology into its war-fighting systems, with various focus areas identified for the infantry, mechanized forces, artillery, air defence, aviation, engineers, signals and logistics.

“The Indian defence industry is rising up to the challenge and the pay-offs are beginning to fructify. In the design & develop category, 14 projects worth over Rs 61,000 crore are being pursued,” Gen Pande said.

Seventeen projects, in turn, are underway with premier institutions like IITs in robotics, sensors, smart munitions, high-powered lasers, lightweight armour, low-light imaging, range extension of artillery shells, habitats for high-altitude areas and UAV jamming.

Under the `Make-II’ category projects, where prototype development is funded by the industry, 45 projects amounting to around Rs 28,000 crore are underway. The Army is also leveraging the vibrant start-up ecosystem with 42 projects under the iDEX (innovations for defence excellence) category. Of them, nine projects worth approximately Rs 300 crore are already under procurement.

“Our ‘desired military capabilities’ flow out from the aim that we define for ourselves. It is to deter war, achieve desired political aims by application of military power and foster a conducive internal and external environment for the unhindered socio-economic development of India, enabling it to assume its rightful role in the emerging world order,” Gen Pande said.

“The capabilities thus arrived at ought to prevent war by presenting a credible deterrence as also enable responding to threats in the entire spectrum of conflict,” he added. (TIMES OF INDIA)