Calls out eroding nuclear stability and fast-evolving warfare
NEW DELHI: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Anil Chauhan on Thursday cautioned that future conflicts will unfold in a rapidly mutating battle space where concepts can turn outdated before deployment, stressing that readiness for tomorrow’s wars is “existential” for militaries and “not an option.”
Speaking at the third Chanakya Defence Dialogue in the capital, he said the global security environment is drifting into volatility, with technology outpacing traditional combat doctrines and the nuclear domain witnessing renewed turbulence.
“Warfare invents itself constantly… the ability to visualise, anticipate and prepare for future conflicts becomes existential for us,” Gen. Chauhan told an audience of military leaders and strategic experts.
Warning that conventional deterrence is shifting shape, the CDS said nuclear stability worldwide is under pressure as major powers upgrade arsenals and old treaties fray.
He pointed to Russia’s pursuit of nuclear-powered platforms, China’s arsenal expansion and recent calls in the United States for nuclear testing, adding that rhetoric and demonstration are drawing dangerously close.
“This thin boundary… is causing instability in the global nuclear domain,” he remarked.
Regional hotspots—from South Asia to the Korean Peninsula—are fuelling fresh nuclear ambitions, heightening the risk of miscalculation, he added.
Gen. Chauhan underlined that three converging dynamics—technological disruption, shifting geopolitics and altered military strategies—are reshaping how future wars will be fought.
Geography is becoming “slightly irrelevant,” he said, as cyber and space-based capabilities expand the arena of confrontation. Warfare, he warned, may increasingly hinge on information dominance.
“Not allowing the enemy to know about himself will become a battle-winning factor,” he observed, hinting at deepening competition in deception and data denial.
The erosion of sovereignty norms, shifting alliances and the readiness to use force for political gains, he said, are combining to make the world “a more violent and very unstable place.”
Every preparation failure has catastrophic potential for nations, he noted, calling clarity of thought and intellectual honesty essential attributes for military leadership tasked with foreseeing threats before they materialise.
The two-day conclave, themed “Reform to Transform: Sashakt and Aur Surakshit Bharat”, is being held at the Manekshaw Centre in Delhi Cantonment, drawing defence thinkers from India and abroad.
Earlier, Army Chief Gen. Upendra Dwivedi reiterated the Army’s “Decade of Transformation” roadmap for 2023-32, detailing a phased plan to build a force ready to counter emerging challenges.
As the dialogue opened, the message from India’s top defence leadership was unequivocal: in a future where uncertainty is the rule, staying ahead is the only safeguard.
