Self-Reliance Must Sustain India Through Long Wars: Army Chief

Speaking on “Aatmanirbharta in an Era of Transformative Wars” at a defence conclave in New Delhi, Gen. Seth described contemporary conflicts as “wars with pause”, in which intense fighting could be separated by prolonged lulls. Militaries therefore needed to prepare for extended campaigns, he said.

Referring to the iconic photograph of Pakistan’s surrender in Dhaka in 1971, the Army chief said wars of the previous century often had clearly identifiable endpoints. Contemporary conflicts increasingly lacked such defining moments.

“Technology may be shortening battles, but it is not necessarily shortening wars,” he said, stressing that India’s capability development must account for changes in the character, technology and duration of warfare.

Gen. Seth said the “capability clock” was moving more slowly than the “technology clock”. Major military systems took years to conceptualise, develop, test and induct, even as technology evolved rapidly.

The challenge was not merely to indigenise a system but to ensure that it remained relevant when it entered service, he said.

The Army chief cautioned against a “one size fits all” approach to military technology, given India’s diverse operational conditions, ranging from sea level to super-high altitudes and from extreme heat to sub-zero temperatures.

He highlighted the changing economics of warfare, saying inexpensive technologies that could be deployed at scale posed a threat to far more costly military platforms.

“A drone costing a few hundred dollars can threaten a platform worth millions of dollars,” he said, underlining the need to innovate and adapt faster than adversaries.

Gen. Seth also cautioned against automatically discarding older military systems as “legacy” platforms. Decades-old air-defence guns could remain effective against drones and drone swarms when integrated with modern sensors, fire-control systems and smart ammunition, he said.

For India, capability development could not mean choosing between long-range and close-contact warfare.

“The Indian Army needs both, the long arm and the strong arm,” he said, stressing that soldiers would ultimately have to occupy, dominate and hold ground along the country’s disputed land borders.

Dominance in the information domain was increasingly important, but territory would remain central to military outcomes, he said.

“Winning in the mind field is as important as winning on the battlefield,” Gen. Seth said, adding that soldiers remained central to securing and defending territory.

He outlined the SAMARTH framework for transformative warfare: Sustain, Adapt, Mission-Ready Modernisation, Accelerate, Resilience, Technology-led Transformation and Human-Machine Teaming.

India’s defence industrial ecosystem was undergoing a major transformation, with defence exports crossing ₹38,000 crore in 2025–26 and reaching more than 80 countries, he said.

“Who will sell it to us?” had increasingly changed to “Who will buy it from us?”, he said.

Gen. Seth said self-reliance must ultimately give India strategic freedom, beyond substituting imports.

“Aatmanirbharta gives us the freedom to fight. Capability gives us the ability to fight. The Yoddha gives us the will to fight,” he said, adding that together they provided the ability to win.