Lt Gen. Abhay Krishna (retd)

Rapid development in the domain of defence technology has taken place especially during last three decades. This has in turn led to the creation of advanced military systems changing the war fighting methodology. As a consequence, the decision-making space of a defender has got compressed exposing the critical targets at fatal risk. These targets were considered beyond the reach of the enemy till a few decades ago.

Armed forces of all developed countries today are rapidly enhancing their capabilities in cyber, space, robotics, directed energy weapons and quantum technology. Both the United States (US) and China are already into developing Artificial Intelligence in a big way and may come out finally by creating on ground a robotic-powered standing army.

Technology and Military Power

Technology is the backbone of any military power. The US is known to have developed the world’s latest advanced technologies in every field. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US was seen as the sole super power. But has this perspective now changed with the defence technologies being developed by both Russia and China for over a decade?

With the newly-developed advanced technologies now available, the concept of conventional war is gradually becoming obsolete and is being reduced to managing only localised conflicts without any long-term decisive impact on nations.

Post-World War II, a number of flashpoints involving militaries of powerful countries have been brewing -- be it in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, South China Sea or in the Indian Ocean. The world has witnessed the employment of deadly drones by the US which has the capability to locate and eliminate even individuals in the wilderness. The US is also known to have launched a robotic space vehicle, as also convert sea water into fuel.

Sometime ago, Russia claimed to have developed armour piercing weapons, collar radios and other gears giving a degree of tactical advantage to soldiers on the ground. China is now increasingly looking at military use of space as well as on the deep sea with fixed ocean floor acoustic array systems for anti-submarine warfare. In fact, the Indian Navy is always concerned about this likely development.

Actual strength, however, lies in successfully keeping the strategic weapons in hiding before deciding to use these. Hypersonic weapons cannot be intercepted due to their speed, manoeuvre capability and flight altitude. The US missile defence today is still not adequately geared up to intercept Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) of the type Russia and China possess. The US is thus looking at placing an additional layer of sensors in orbit to be able to intercept mix of ballistic and hypersonic missiles carrying nuc