Indian military's Non-Contact Warfare doctrine
A few months back, India’s Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said, 'Non-contact warfare would help gain an advantage over adversaries in the future. Quantum technology, cyberspace and above all, Artificial Intelligence need to be leveraged’.
Non-contact warfare includes intimidating the adversary without any physical contact. Today, General Rawat is tasked with drafting a doctrine for non-contact warfare and tracking its implementation. Embracing it could change the way the Indian Armed Forces fight future wars.
AI Face Recognition
The Indian Army has indigenously developed a surveillance system and deployed it at the Line of Actual Control to closely track patrolling, exercises and sudden build-ups by the Chinese Army. This software uses comparative analysis to identify Chinese personnel coming close to the LAC by matching them with existing surveillance data. Consequently, it helps in the timely assessment of enemy movements and take appropriate countermeasures.
Agni-V missiles
Last week, India tested Agni-V, an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, in response to heavy Chinese build-up along the LAC. Agni-V comes with MIRV or Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle technology. That means it can deliver multiple nuclear warheads to different targets. Against this, a conventional missile carries only one warhead. Moreover, these multiple nuclear warheads can hit targets that are hundreds of kilometres apart. The test has shaken China so severely that its media has gone full throttle to discredit the trial. This CCP-sponsored propaganda, in fact, reveals the Chinese unease and Indian success.
Rocket Force
Moreover, India is setting up its own ‘Rocket Force’. In future wars, a Rocket Force will swiftly deal a decisive and crippling blow to strategic enemy infrastructure using missiles without involving ground troops.
Indian hacker groups
Global Times, China’s de facto government mouthpiece, has blamed Indian hackers for targeting multiple Chinese organizations as well as individuals in the past two years during the epidemic.
Experts consider these claims to hold water and mark an assertive shift that comes with the implementation of the non-contact warfare policy.
Ever since China’s attack in Galwan, the two dormant threats have become active. Firstly, the attack has dismissed the myth of tranquillity at the Line of Actual Control with China. Secondly, it has made real the threat of a two-front war. Thus, India has speeded up procurement, production and development of modern weapons with a significant focus on non-contact warfare, and this thrust is expected to only widen in the coming time.