New Delhi: Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Wednesday called for the democratisation of technology for modern warfare, geographical diffusion and use of demographics in the context of civilian soldiers and traders.
Addressing the Delhi Defence Dialogue 2025 at the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (MP-IDSA), Army Chief General Dwivedi highlighted the emerging role of technology in contemporary battlefields. He also cited the use of drones and artificial intelligence in the Ukraine-Russia conflict as a vivid example of this.
“As far as the battlefield of the future is concerned, this is an era of conflict and competition,”” the Army chief said.” The importance of long-range battlefields is decreasing and widespread conflicts are increasing.
This means that the use of technology is decreasing. With more than 50 ongoing conflicts and more than 100 countries, we are keeping a close eye on the Ukrainian battlefield. This is because it is a living laboratory of the conditions that exist on our borders.
Drones are keeping an eye on armoured troops. Artificial intelligence is jamming the radio. Not only that, the exact attacks are going on beyond 100 kilometers.
In keeping with the three D, democratization, proliferation and demographics, COAS called for the use of AI, robotics and cyber devices in the gray zone of war.
“I will tell the three Ds, which are changing the war scenario today. DEMOCRATIZATION, THIS IS THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY. It has already been proven that the platform alone is not relevant. It should have many layers supported by this democratic phenomenon, such as AI, quantum, robotics, auto systems, etc.
He spoke of DW, i.e. energy weapons, cyber equipment, especially the gray zone. He said that this geographical freedom is widespread, but dependent. And demographics, you have civilian soldiers, guard forces and even traders now play a role in conflicts. Sometimes they sell equipment to both sides.”
In the specific context of India, he further said, “Because of the challenges on the fronts, we have to ensure that whatever technology is coming, it adjusts itself within the 5 generations of warfare, from the trench to the hybrid and the fifth generation of warfare.” He further said that the Indian Army is considering human-centric technology and is also considering Generation-7 technology, which includes 7 nanomillion technology for that generation of mobiles and computers, video game consoles and microchips.
The Army chief said, “Industry 4.0, Industry 5.0 has changed… It was during 4.0 that AI, Quantum and all these were discussed. But 5.0 has realized that rebalancing is necessary to include the human aspect. Technology is not to take the place of humans, but to support them… Now, this is important for us, especially for the Indian Army.
This industry, 5.0, is like music to me, because we are considering adopting human-centered technology. We see humans amplified by AI. Creativity, empathy, problem solving, and turning data into decisions must remain under the control of humans.”
“General Dwivedi further said, “”There is another thing called technology generation-7.” The 7.0 technology is the 7 nanomillion technology for that generation of new mobiles and computers, video game consoles, and microchips. All these together are in front of me, by integrating, interpreting them, to ensure that the Indian Army benefits from this.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan also emphasized on how technology, being the most important factor in deciding modern warfare strategy, is gradually “acquiring and outping” on geography.
General Anil Chauhan stressed that the outcome of war is determined by strategy. He said that in the past these factors were mainly taken from geography, but now it has started to change.
CDS General Anil Chauhan said, “War and victory in war basically depends on strategy… If you look at the past, the strategy was mainly taken from geography, but gradually the element of technology is taking over geography and leaving it behind.”
Delhi Raksha Samvad 2025 is a two-day event organised by Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (MP-IDSA). Its theme is ‘Using Modern Technology for Defence Capability Development’. It was inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
