Large main battle tanks, fighter aircraft on their way out: Army Chief on changing character of warfare

Army Chief General MM Naravane on Wednesday, while emphasising on the changing character of warfare, said that icons of the 20th-century warfare like large main battle tanks and fighter aircraft are on their way out.

"Icons of the 20th-century warfare like large main battle tanks and fighter aircraft are on their way out," the Army Chief said while addressing an event here.

The Army Chief pointed out that the last large tank battle, one in which large armoured formations of two armies, manoeuvred against each other supported by artillery and air forces, took place in the 1973 Arab-Israel war on the Golan Heights in the deserts of Sinai.

"In the five odd decades since - in Iraq, Lebanon, Georgia, Chechnya and Syria, armoured formations have either followed or supported the application of airpower and artillery, or else their units and sub-units have been committed in smaller tactical groupings as part of infantry - armour assaults in urban terrain," the Army Chief said.

"During the war in the Donbass, a single-fire mission by Russian artillery destroyed two Ukranian mechanised battalions in a few minutes in what became known as the 'Battle of Zelenopillya'," he added.

Referring to Arthashastra by Kautilya, the Army Chief said great strategic wisdom is contained within India's own ancient texts.