India Ex-DGMO Bhatt: Drones, Space & Cyber Warfare Redefining Conflicts| Defense & Security Insights
Lt. Gen. Anil Bhatt (Retd) reveals how drones, space, and cyberspace are reshaping modern warfare. He reflects on Operation Sindoor, the Doklam standoff, and India's new military paradigm. “War is serious business,” he says, stressing preparation as a deterrent. Don't miss this exclusive
Operation Sindoor has brought into sharp focus the importance of drones in modern warfare, which along with space and cyberspace will write the new paradigm of future military conflicts, a former Director General of Military Operation who oversaw the Doklam crisis, has said.
In an interview on Thursday, retired Lt. Gen. Anil Kumar Bhatt also expressed his displeasure at suggestions in social media by many war mongers who were unhappy with the conflict ending in four days on the grounds that it was an opportunity to reclaim Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
He said war should be the last option and should not be waged since India had achieved its strategic aims.
“Let me tell you, a war or taking back Pak-occupied Kashmir, should be a war of choice, taken by a decision. That is not what was planned this time. Yes, the Indian military was prepared for it, if the escalating ladder took you there,” said Bhatt, who is guiding the growth of the private space technology sector in the country after retirement in June 2020.
As DGMO, Bhatt was one of the most senior military officers in the hierarchy in-charge of ensuring that the armed forces were operationally ready at all times. Reporting directly to the army chief, the DGMO is intimately involved in shaping strategies to deal with immediate and long-term security challenges, besides coordinating with the other two services as well as civilian and paramilitary security forces.
In times of crisis and escalated tensions, it falls on the DGMO to communicate with his opposite number. Currently, the DGMO is Lt. Gen. Rajiv Ghai. Bhatt was DGMO in 2017 when India was locked in a 73-day military standoff with China in Doklam tri-junction near the Sikkim sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). A four-star Lieutenant General is the second highest rank in the army, below a five-star General. A Field Marshal is largely a ceremonial or war-time rank.
“So what I would tell all my fellow countrymen is, war is a serious business. A very very serious business. And a nation goes for it when all possible options are over. We had options less than war (during the current crisis) and gave a sense to it,” said Bhatt, who spent 38 years in the Army.
Asked how important the drones were in the latest conflict he said the unmanned aerial vehicles have created an entirely new paradigm in warfare and the militaries of the world began focussing on it when they achieved spectacular success for Azerbaijan in winning a nearly-lost war against a well-armed Armenia.
The drones were Turkish made. Turkey also supplied drones to Pakistan, which sent swarms of them over Indian air space for surveillance and sometimes lethal payloads.
Bhatt agreed that relatively inexpensive drones costing as little as Rs two lakh were able to destroy armoured tanks worth Rs. 20 to 30 crore in the two Azerbaijan-Armenia wars in 2017 and 2020, which made it clear that war theatres of the future will be dotted with drones.
To that there are two more new elements, Bhatt noted.
“Previously, we used to say that wars are fought on the land, sea and in the air. But, two new domains., very, very effective and important domains – space and cyber space – that are now emerging,” said Bhatt said, who now is the Director General of Indian Space Association, the industry body of the space sector.
Bhatt said the space sector was critical to future warfare as satellites play an important role in intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance, besides guiding missiles and aircraft to their desired targets.
“But, in the future every country will have to protect its assets in space and also know what are the adversaries’ assets in space,” he said.
Bhatt said several countries have demonstrated anti-satellite weapons and were also developing suicidal satellites that go near an adversary’s satellites and destroy it.
He said India has nine or 10 military satellites for surveillance purposes and has plans to put in place a constellation of 52 satellites for space-based surveillance.
“These 52 satellites definitely will increase our capability. Today, our gap is filled by companies like Maxar, PlanetM among others. But, we would obviously want our own satellites. Shutter control is very important,” Bhatt said.
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