Dr Ambedkar Nagar (Madhya Pradesh) [India], August 27 : Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on Wednesday underlined the need for "hybrid warriors" capable of operating across multiple domains of conflict, from border battles to counter-terror operations in urban terrain.
"I think future warfare will demand hybrid warriors; They should be able to fight on borders, manoeuvre in deserts, plan complex anti-terror operations in dense urban terrain, neutralise drones and decode cyber intrusions. 'Shaastra' and 'Shastra' have to go together, if we have to fight and win," Gen Chauhan said in his valedictory address at the Run Samwad 2025 -- the first Tri-Services Seminar held at Army War College, in Madhya Pradesh's Dr Ambedkar Nagar (Mhow).
He said that the two-day deliberations had "clearly established the need to adopt and adapt to the changing dynamics of warfare and war fighting."
On Tuesday, Gen Chauhan had stressed that India needs to be armed, secure, and self-reliant to fulfil the vision of a Viksit Bharat.
"As a Viksit Bharat, we also need to be 'Sashastra' (armed), 'Suraksit' (secure) and 'Aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant), not only in technology, but also in ideas and in practice. Hence, there is a need to increase awareness on all fragments of our society on doctrinal and conceptual aspects, that's the academic pursuits of how war is fought and practical and actual war fighting techniques and tactics," he said, calling for academic focus on doctrines, concepts, and warfighting techniques.
In the backdrop of Operation Sindoor, the CDS had said that India is a peace-loving nation but cannot be a "pacifist".
"India has always stood on the side of peace. We are a peace-loving nation, but don't get mistaken, we cannot be pacifists. I think peace without power is utopian. I like to state a Latin quote which translates as, 'if you want peace, prepare for war,'" he said.
Citing examples from history, the CDS had emphasised the importance of wisdom along with weapons during war. "We have always spoken about 'Shastra' and 'Shaastra' in the same breath. They are actually the two blades of the same sword. We know that a combination of military strategy and warriors is essential to win, and the foremost and best example of this is the Mahabharata and the Gita. We are aware that Arjuna was the greatest warrior, yet he needed a Krishna to guide him towards victory. Similarly, we had Chandragupta who needed the wisdom of Chanakya," he said.
He added, "India has been a land of Gautam Buddha, Mahavir Jain and Mahatma Gandhi, all champions of non-violence."
Furthermore, he encouraged contemporary military scholars to engage in a discourse on military strategy and operations across all dimensions of a war.
Emphasising that battlefields of tomorrow will not recognise service boundaries, CDS General Chauhan has called for swift and decisive joint responses across domains to ensure victory in future wars.
Terming Aatmanirbharta in defence and integrated logistics as key to emerge victorious in the wars to come, the CDS reaffirmed that 'jointness' is foundational to India's transformation.
He underscored the need to institutionalise joint training and absorb constantly evolving technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, Cyber, and Quantum, to enhance operational capability.
For a robust civil-military integration, he voiced the importance & commitment to develop Sudarshan Chakra (India's Own Iron Dome), which will act as both 'A Shield and A Sword', and said that developing capabilities in multiple domains is central for attaining victory in future wars.