By Ravi Srivastava
(This article has also been featured by Indian Aerospace and Defence Bulletin.)
a 4 mins read.
Nations Pride
Indian Army boasts itself as being one of the most professional armed forces with massive strength and raw power. It is the world’s second-largest land force to operate in a multi-domain terrain deployment. This demands unmatched combat skills and a deep understanding of the nuances of warfighting from the Indian Army. India’s wars, conflicts and proxy threats have laid a huge demand on the commitments and sacrifices of the Indian Army. It continues to ensure its obligations to the nation are upheld in the letter and spirit whatever may be the cost to it.
Adaptation to the challenges, some anticipated and some unexpected has remained the strength of the Army. History has witnessed how it fought for the honour of the nation when multiple wars were thrust upon it and how it has sacrificed to uphold the traditions of ‘service before self’. Ignoring its own hardships with gallant & valour of its men and women. The Army prides itself on having written its glorious history in red letters of selfless devotion. The challenges in front have only motivated the Indian Army to chart a course that enhances its competitiveness and operational readiness, however, difficult the choice may be.
Today when new geopolitical realities have emerged where conventional conflicts are seen as an option, what is being witnessed in Ukraine; where non-state actors have adopted hi-tech specialised capabilities hitherto the domain of special forces, like Mumbai and Hamas attacks or the use of ballistic missiles by Houthis engaging commercial liners. These have unlocked a new realm where the capabilities of states or even non-state actors are extremely hazardous to guess. It has become extraordinarily important for the Indian Army, the harbinger of national security, to initiate a new phase of evolution, adaptations and execution capabilities.
Inspiring Approach
Indian Army looks fully alive to the situation and appears to have worked out its path for the new phase of action plans. Some of the key challenges it has identified for itself and looks to overcome are; trimming down any undue bulk, new technological adaptation, jointness in operations and improved HR management. It has consequently laid down its course to transition itself into a well-equipped, well-trained and a well-accomplished fighting force.
Indian Army remains a key stakeholder in the nation’s continued progress. The Army Chief in his address, on the occasion of 76th Army Day, touched upon a few significant requisites the Indian Army must look forward to enable it to transform itself into a modern, agile, adaptive and technologically qualified future ready force. Towards this goal, the Indian Army has planned to observe 2024 as ‘The Year of Technology Absorption’. Transforming itself into a lean and capable fighting force, fully prepared to manoeuvre toward future needs.
The Army has undertaken certain focused and long-term views to meet its critical needs. To better utilise budgetary resources and improve the capital to revenue commitments in armed forces the government’s introduction of short-term contractual recruitments is expected to play a major role in better shaping up of the Army. Indian Army looks to retain its personnel strength while cutting down on financial burden for long-term sustenance. There has been intense debate on the reduction of manpower in the 1.4 million-strong Army. It has been argued that optimisation must precede the reduction of the numerical strength. As challenges mount and the security environment stays dismal, the Army would find operational deployment only getting intense and bigger in scope.
Newer Threats
A case in point has been the recent Galwan conflict, it has been noted that the Indian Army undertook a sizable deployment of additional troops as a precautionary posture. These commitments were sudden and required the turning over of troops from non-operational locations. Likewise, there would be unanticipated requirements for troops to improve upon the deterrent posture in selected sectors and occupy in newer theatres as per changes in security dynamics. What makes these assumptions very realistic is the extremely volatile nature of India’s neighbourhood security which has a history of bloody tussles.
Such challenges make the case stronger for restructuring than to reduce the count. It has been reasonably understood that the Indian Army is already working on internal cadre restructuring, this will likely offer good dividends. By way of continued technology infusion, there will be probable reductions in human resource requirements. This has been the global norm, as technologies like Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and robotics get deployed by organisations they have felt that achieving the same end state can be done with a reduced workforce. In fact, enterprises and large businesses have acted concurrently on both counts of rolling out ever-promising new capabilities while cutting down on human resources.
Human Capital
Although, we may not classically compare a technology company with the requirements of the armed forces but nevertheless, it is adequate for taking out reasonable inferences. The armed forces cannot be an exception to this general theory. But rushing straight into reduction can be counterproductive as the numbers have their own geostrategic advantages, provided they are well-skilled and fully enabled to meet multitasking requirements. It’s rather easy to lay off but replacements for trained soldiers will never be easy to come by.
The Ukraine war experience brings these facets in a very crude manner. Both adversaries having suffered major losses now equally struggle to enrol more trained soldiers. The commonality of the problem across the divide only amplifies that boots on the ground as a key component in the outcome. It also broadens a nation’s capacity to absorb considerable numerical adversity and still stay firmly standing. For a country like India which advocates a ‘No First Use’ it becomes even more pronounced to retain the ability to execute its war designs even after getting its first massive hit. As an indisputable requirement, the Army would want – to improve, restructure and retain quality human capital to fully address any future threats.
