NEW DELHI, Sept 27: Chief of the Army Staff General Dhiraj Seth on Sunday stressed the importance of self-reliance in defence production, saying territorial control remains a tangible measure of military success despite rapid advances in technology and information warfare.
Addressing the NDTV Defence Summit 2026, Gen Seth said Aatmanirbharta in defence should extend across the entire lifecycle of military equipment — from design and development to manufacturing, maintenance and upgrades — while also creating systems for global markets.
“Aatmanirbharta must mean design in India, develop in India, manufacture in India, sustain in India, upgrade in India, and also make for the world,” he said.
Speaking about the changing nature of warfare, the Army Chief said social media and digital information campaigns were increasingly influencing perceptions of conflicts around the world.
“We see salvo after salvo in today’s social media covering warfare across the globe,” Gen Seth said, adding that competing information narratives could obscure the actual situation on the battlefield and create uncertainty.
Despite technological advances, he said land remains a tangible and useful factor in determining military success, with victory ultimately measured in territorial terms.
Gen Seth also stressed that technological development should remain focused on the needs of frontline soldiers.
“Every capability must address one question: how does it help that soldier who puts his boots or tracks on the ground?” he said, placing the soldier at the centre of capability development.
On the duration of modern conflicts, Gen Seth said wars were increasingly characterised by prolonged timelines and intermittent periods of intense fighting.
“Technology is certainly shortening the battles, but it is not necessarily shortening the war,” he said, describing contemporary conflicts as “wars with pause”, where periods of reduced fighting can become part of military strategy.
The Army Chief also cautioned Indian defence developers against lengthy development cycles, warning that indigenous systems could become outdated before they are inducted into service.
He described this potential problem as “indigenous obsolescence”, stressing that reducing dependence on foreign suppliers must go hand in hand with timely development and deployment of relevant technologies.
