Here comes September, bringing with it the intimation of autumn festivities and events. One of the major events from the national security perspective is the 11th Xiangshan Forum taking place in Beijing from September 12-14. One of FORCE editors, Pravin Sawhney, has been invited to the Forum to participate in a discussion on AI in warfare. While Pravin will write about his experience, observations and takeaways of the conference in the October issue of FORCE, September issue presents a warmup to that through its cover story on how warfare is changing rapidly, dictated by emerging technologies.
While technology has been the key determinant of science and to a large extent the art of war, the emergence of AI-driven technologies is poised to change the very nature of warfare. Historically linked with the physical prowess of both men and machine, the modern technology will increasingly reduce the former to the role of a force multiplier, or an enabler of machines, because the primary instruments of combat will be the latter. And maybe in a few decades, the primary combatant or the main machine may not even be needed on the battlefield.
Woven around changed warfare, the September cover story dwells on the threats that India faces, both spatial as well as technological and looks at the mechanisms by which Indian government should prepare for them on the one hand and mitigate them on the other hand, by pursuing a cooperative policy, instead of competitive.
Interestingly, many continue to look at India’s military threat from the perspective of the disputed borders. This reading ignores the role of geopolitics in the sustainment and mitigation of the threats. Ignoring both its history and geography, the government of India wants to implant itself in the Global North’s backyard as a measure of its arrival on the world stage. While this arrival itself is contentious, what is clear is that the Global North has been in decline for over a decade now. Covid Pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine has only precipitated that decline. The future belongs to Global South, as the article on the decline of Europe highlights. This is where India belongs, not just geographically, but historically too, given the history of colonialism that it shares with the rest of the region. Those with the passing knowledge of history would recall that in the 1950s, India was the leader of the nations which had recently thrown of the yolk of colonialism, demanding their share of the global resources. Sometimes a little understanding of the past goes a long way in shaping the future.
Of course, there is more to the September issue than two articles. Read on.