The Indian Army is observing the year 2024 as the ‘Year of Technology Absorption’.
This theme underscores the Army’s steadfast focus on embracing technology to transform itself so as to keep ahead of adversaries in the context of the evolving character of warfare.
The absorption will be mainly in terms of disruptive technology (DT) comprising artificial intelligence, autonomous weapon systems such as drones, sensors, robotics, space technology, and hypersonic weapon systems.
Several nations, led by the United States and China, have remarkable accomplishments in the field of DTs.
The strategic competition and engagements in the future are going to be inevitably decided by the edge a nation possesses in absorbing these technologies
In military parlance, absorption implies the acquisition, adaptation and integration of technologies into existing structures called legacy systems.
These cover various nuances that are usually not apparent to the uninitiated
The strategies that military organisations use to employ technologies will be critical in understanding their effects on the battlefield
Technical countermeasures in wars quickly limit the performance of new technology-enabled weapons employed by an adversary.
In present battle conditions, weapon platforms such as tanks must adapt to become more survivable.
This will require a change in tactics and a greater integration of different types of capabilities.
With a plethora of sensors on the battlefield, it has become almost impossible to hide
Rather than discarding conventional platforms in favour of purely digital solutions, the technology and its attributes need to be at the centre of planning for future plans
An understanding of the latest technologies, their potential, and the context in which they can be utilised are essential.
The absorption will have to visibly manifest itself at the unit levels, as against being controlled only at the higher levels.
This democratisation in employing technology at cutting-edge levels is an imperative to usher in true transformation.
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