In grey-zone era, cyber attacks serve politico-military aims: Rajnath

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that in the era of "grey zone" and hybrid warfare, cyber attacks and disinformation campaign are tools to achieve politico-military aims. The ongoing conflicts and contemporary trends highlight the fact that traditional notions of warfare are being rewritten, he said in his address at the convocation ceremony of Defence Service Staff College (DSSC) at Willington, Tamil Nadu. "The ongoing conflicts and contemporary trends highlight the fact that the traditional notions of warfare are being rewritten. Emerging technologies are impacting the character of war with unmanned systems, and advent of AI forecasting, an era of Autonomous Warfare. The Warfare today has gone beyond the traditional battlefields of land, sea and air," he said.
Rajnath Singh said that his ministry is making significant progress on the goals set for the year 2025 aimed at transforming India's armed forces into a technologically advanced and combat-ready force capable of multi-domain integrated operations. The defence minister said his ministry has identified nine broad areas as part of the modernisation drive in the armed forces. He said the entire range of modernisation imperatives, including defence acquisition and procedural reforms, have been addressed. He added that the global geo-political situation is marked by tremendous flux, with rapidly shifting alignments, disruptions and conflicts being the order of the day. Issues such as deglobalisation, intense nationalism, resource scarcity, human migration, food security, climate concerns and the threat of global pandemics loomed large, he added.

VIDEO | Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) attended the convocation ceremony of Defence Service Staff College in Wellington, Tamil Nadu earlier today.

(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvqRQz) pic.twitter.com/7uBiUaM4CL

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The 80th Staff Course comprises 479 student officers, including 38 personnel from 26 friendly countries. Three women officers are also participating in the course.Established in 1948, DSSC is a premier Tri-service training institution that imparts professional education to select middle-level officers of the Indian Armed Forces and friendly countries. It aims to enhance their professional competencies for assuming higher responsibilities. Over the years, more than 19,000 Indian officers and 2,000 international officers have graduated from DSSC, many of whom have risen to become heads of states and military forces worldwide.