CDS General Anil Chauhan: Change in thinking, strategy and infrastructure is necessary to win the next war

New Delhi: Today’s war is not the same as before. Along with weapons, there is now a fight of thinking, technology and coordination. This bitter truth was openly put forward by the country’s biggest army man, Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan. In the inaugural session of the ‘Annual Trident Lecture Series’ at the Manekshaw Center in Delhi Cantt, General Chauhan said, ‘If we have to win the next war, then we have to change our thinking, strategy and infrastructure, not just with weapons.’ He said that today’s wars are hybrid where cyber attacks, drones, artificial intelligence, space and data are being used. In such a situation, India will have to move beyond the traditional military structure towards joint operations and technological innovation.

‘Strong coordination between the three forces is necessary’

The CDS talked about deep coordination between the Army, Air Force and Navy and called the ‘Tri-Service War Policy’ a need of the future. He said that the forces of land, water and sky should not work separately, but under a common strategy. This is the need of the hour.

On this occasion, the first ‘General Bipin Rawat Paper’ prepared in the memory of General Bipin Rawat was also released. Its focus was on ‘man-unmanned teaming’ i.e. coordination between soldiers and machines. Along with this, the August 2025 issue of ‘Synergy’ magazine was also released, which has detailed articles on emerging warfare technologies.

The Chief of Integrated Defense Staff spoke on the topic of ‘Readiness in Tri-Service Reforms’ and explained how institutional reforms are being done in view of the new form of war. At the same time, the Deputy Chief explained the need to include military traditions related to Indian culture in future strategy.