General Anil Chauhan was speaking at the 14th Air Chief Marshall LM Katre Memorial Lecture organised by the Air Force Association in Bengaluru. “Change and adaption are crucial for survival. For the armed forces as well, change and evolution are as important as for any species that’s because change is occurring around us. What the three service chiefs and I are trying to do is to give these reforms a certain speed in a particular direction. We are entering an age that is uncertain, this will require some kind of a transformative change.
Armed forces are also cognizant of the changes that are taking place around them and they also adapt and change. As far as the Air Force is concerned they have graduated into a network-centric warfare. As far as the Navy is concerned we have seen this mission-based deployment,” General Anil Chauhan said.
He further said that the opportunities are the real problem that we are facing today as they come unexpectedly.
“Challenges and threats are very easy but opportunities are the real problems because they come up unexpectedly. That’s the major challenge we are facing to predict what opportunities will come forward. I believe opportunities come up at times when things are not normal. India will emerge as the global leader of the south and the successful conduct of G20 is an indication in that direction. Israel-Hamas conflict, who would’ve predicted 8 days from now that the world will be facing this problem? That is the kind of uncertainty I was talking about,” he added.
General Chauhan further pressed on, that the world is now transiting between two orders and currently the global geo-political environment is in a state of flux. “Currently, the global geo-political environment is in a state of flux. In fact, the world would be transiting between two orders, the old order is weathering away and the shape of the new world order is yet to be stabilised. In spite of Russia being a major nuclear power, the geopolitical importance of Russia will go down in times to come. The Wagner rebellion indicates the internal weakness and is indicative of what may lie in store for the future as far as Russia is concerned,” he said.
He also emphasized on the present China situation and said that we will see a more assertive China in times to come. “China presently occupies an important place in the geo-economic world order. We will see a more assertive China in the times to come. Of course, then there will be a convergence of interest between the Russians and the Chinese and some other countries. North Korea and Iran may join the bandwagon,” General Anil Chauhan said.
The Chief of Defence Staff also said that the steps we take today will define India’s status in the next 25 years of what the PM is talking about- ‘Amrit Kaal’, that’s what we have entered today. “The characteristics of warfare are changing because of the introduction of new technologies. It’s mostly technological-driven issues. We are fighting new domains like–space, cyber, cognitive domain and electromagnetic domain. Traditionally, we fight on Air, land and sea,” he added.
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