No substitute for boots on the ground, tech only an enabler: CDS Chauhan

In an address at the Raisina Dialogue, Gen Chauhan described imparting appropriate training to military personnel to deal with hybrid warfare along with conventional war

There is no substitute for "boots on the ground" as technology can only be an enabler which cannot replace people, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan said on Wednesday, highlighting ways to deal with new-age conflicts.

In an address at the Raisina Dialogue, India's flagship conference on geopolitics, Gen Chauhan described imparting appropriate training to military personnel to deal with hybrid warfare along with conventional war as a big challenge for the country.

For a multicultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic country like India, disinformation and internal strife could be a major challenge, he observed.

Disinformation is a battle of minds or cognitive warfare and it could be a major challenge, he argued.

Gen Chauhan was speaking at a session titled 'Verses and Wars: Navigating Hybrid Theatres'.

The chief of defence staff also identified cyber space, disinformation, and economic coercion as essential elements of contemporary warfare.

I think the global security environment is marked by two challenges -- one is uncertainty and other is rapid amount of change, he said.

"The biggest challenge that we face is to train people for hybrid kinds of wars as well as conventional war," he said.

Elaborating on it, Gen Chauhan cited the rapid pace of technological advancement and said to train people on technology absorption is a challenge.

Delving into various national security challenges, the CDS said India has been facing the "asymmetric threat". Though he did not name any adversary, his comments were seen as a reference to Pakistan.

"We have always called it a sub conventional kind of a conflict. We invented this particular term much before the West invented terms like global war on terror or asymmetric warfare or fourth generation warfare or hyper conflicts," he said.

"We have called it conflict below the threshold of conventional conflict and the lesson is that there is no substitute for boots on the ground," he said.

Gen Chauhan said technology can only be an enabler but it cannot replace people. "I think that is very important."  The CDS also talked about new-age combat zones.

"In conventional conflicts, you shape the battlefield with fire. Over here, we are looking at shaping the mindscape not the landscape. The battle of the mind becomes important as far as hybrid warfare is concerned," he said.