NEW DELHI: Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Wednesday said the force is closely watching the Ukraine battlefield because it is a “living lab” in terms of the conditions “we are having along our borders”.
In his address at the Delhi Defence Dialogue 2025, Gen Dwivedi also said that as far as the future battlefield is concerned, it’s an era of jostling and competition.
The long peace is declining and comprehensive conflicts are on the rise, which means technology is going galore… You can use technology today wherever you want, the Army chief said.
“Over 50 ongoing conflicts and more than 100 nations… I used to call it 90, but I was corrected, it’s more than 100 now.
“And the Ukraine battlefield, especially, we are watching closely because it is a living lab in terms of the conditions we are having along our borders,” the Army chief said.
“Drones are stalking the armour columns, EW (electronic warfare) is jamming the radios, precision fires are reaching much beyond the 100 km range, while info campaigns win wars even before a single shell lands,” the officer said.
These are the situations being faced, he underlined, as he spelt out the three Ds which are changing the war scenario today — democratisation, diffuse and demography.
“Democratisation is the new technology coming in, and as already been brought out that the platform alone is not relevant, it has to have a number of layers supported by this democratised phenomena, i.e., AI, quantum robotics, auto system, DEW or directed energy weapon, cyber tools, etc., which play a very important role, especially in the grey zone,” the Army chief said.
“So, the platforms may be there for a conventional one when you have a contact and kinetic battle. But, what happens to the other three quadrants, who fights these battles? These are the new players who have come in now,” he added.
The second is diffuse, which is geographically independent but dependent, he said.
“Thirdly, demography. You have citizen soldiers, you have a guardian force, you have merchants who are playing both sides and may be selling equipment to both sides to orchestrate the war or facilitate the war,” the officer said.
“If I have to look into the Indian context… We are having the two-and-a-half front challenge or much more than that, we have to still make sure that whatever technology is coming in, it should adjust itself within the five generations of warfare that we are having,” the Army chief asserted.
It means the trench warfare will “remain true to us”, he said. Gen Dwivedi also emphasised that geography continues to dictate strategy.
“As far as India is concerned, by virtue of our land borders, the way we are having it, land will remain the currency of victory,” the Army chief said. “If you take your mind back to the meeting between (US) President (Donald) Trump and (Russia President Vladimir) Putin in Alaska, they also discussed land only,” he said.
The Army chief also spoke on how the force is endeavouring to leverage artificial intelligence. He said the Army is going to launch an in-house chatbot – ‘Jigyasa’ – and about 15 more items which are part of it.
“They’re small-small softwares which are going to empower it,” he said. Without elaborating, he also mentioned ‘AI in the box’, and said, “We have already carried out the trials and with the mobile formations, ‘AI in the box’ will give us the advantage because we have mobile formations that are moving ahead.”
