'But that was not our aim. Our objective was already achieved.'
"It would not be wrong to say that the age we live in has just one doctrine -- that there is none. Circumstances and challenges are changing with such speed that every nation is compelled to keep its strategy flexible and responsive."
In his plenary address last week, delivered at a first-of-its-kind tri-service seminar on war, warfare, and warfighting, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh offered the clearest distillation yet of the shifting nature of the battlefield -- a landscape of uncertainty that India's armed forces continue to adapt to.
Addressing serving officers, veterans and experts at the RAN Samwad seminar ('RAN' in Hindi means war) on September 27, 2025 at the Army War College, Mhow, Rajnath's remarks on the event's second and final day were both a warning to adversaries and a reiteration of India's evolving military posture.
"Our endeavour must be to define the battlefield and the rules of the game ourselves, compelling the adversary to fight there (on our terms) ..."
Citing Operation Sindoor as an example, he added, "The bravery and swiftness with which our forces carried out the action against terrorist shelters in Pakistan was something those terrorists could never have imagined."
The answer to the uncertainty outlined by him appears to lie in preparing for an Indian way of warfighting -- a theme that ran through the seminar.
Presentations and deliberations went beyond its overarching focus on technologies shaping warfare, extending to force generation -- training, equipping, and preparing units -- and force application -- deployment, operational structures, and execution of objectives -- amid what Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan calls the third revolution in military affairs: Rapid advances in space-based, cyber, artificial intelligence, and autonomous capabilities.
Speaking on the seminar's sidelines, a defence source underscored that the push of the army, air force, and navy to become a more agile, connected force drew lessons from recent wars -- in Europe and West Asia -- but remained rooted in Indian conditions.
"We face the entire continuum of modern conflict. And all of this unfolds under a nuclear overhang, making escalation control critical," he said.
Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A P Singh on day one underscored what set India's approach to conflict apart by highlighting that "conflict termination" remains underemphasised globally.
Speaking about the recent global air and space chiefs' conference in the United Kingdom, the IAF chief noted that discussions were dominated by the Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Iran, and Israel-Hamas wars.
"Not even a word about Sindoor in the entire conference... They were avoiding the topic," he said.
The IAF chief observed that the actors involved in the protracted wars in West Asia and Europe seemed to have lost sight of their original objectives.
"The first thing we learn is the selection and maintenance of aim. That part has totally been forgotten," he said.
Underlining that Operation Sindoor exemplified conflict termination, he said India's objectives were clear -- to teach the terrorists a lesson by striking selected targets in Pakistan -- and once these were achieved, India stopped at the first opportunity when the other side came forward to talk.
"That night, we were on a song. We could have continued to strike, but that was not our aim. Our objective was already achieved."
He was referring to the IAF's strikes on 11 Pakistani airbases during the night of May 9-10.
On the afternoon of May 10, Pakistan's director general of military operations called his Indian counterpart, after which both sides agreed to cease military action from 5 pm IST.
Another defence source pointed out that the only other major military action in recent times to exhibit clear thinking on conflict termination was the June 2025 American attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
"Given the limited target set of the Balakot air strike, Operation Sindoor marked India's first major non-contact, kinetic conflict. A clear view on conflict termination and deliberate control of the escalation ladder enabled the achievement of politico-military objectives while minimising our economic and human costs."
However, he cautioned against interpreting this to mean that India only foresaw or was preparing for limited, or short and intense, wars in the future.
Emphasising the need to continuously strengthen the domestic defence industry, the defence minister said India must be prepared for conflicts of any duration.
"If any war stretches for two months, four months, a year, two years, or even five years, then we should be fully prepared. We must ensure that our surge capacity (ability to quickly ramp up defence production during war or crisis
Another key takeaway from the seminar was that the posture of "strategic restraint" -- the longstanding hesitation to use force as an instrument of foreign policy -- has been phased out, at least in the context of Pakistan.
This shift began with the September 2016 surgical strikes, gathered pace with the February 2019 Balakot airstrike, and culminated in the new national security doctrine ushered in by Operation Sindoor -- under which any future terrorist attack will be treated as an act of war.
In its place appears to be a posture of punitive deterrence: A move from restraint-based reactivity to imposing costs and deterring future provocations.
When a dissonance emerged over the pending reorganisation of the armed forces by creating theatre commands -- with one school of thought holding that the jointness displayed during Operation Sindoor obviates the need for disruptive restructuring, at least for now -- the counter came in the context of credible deterrence on the northern front.
One defence source underscored that lessons drawn from the four-day conflict with Pakistan did not necessarily carry over to meeting the challenges on the northern borders.
"We don't need theatre commands for Pakistan, but they will be necessary for any future conflict on the northern borders."
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
