Ukraine war has given lessons in modern warfare says India’s Naval chief

India’s Naval Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said the ongoing Ukraine war has shown the rapidity with which counter measures are developed for all new technologies.

Whenever technology is developed, you’ll find there is a counter to it. Especially, we see in the Ukraine war that when technology is brought into the battlefield, within a few days it gets countered,” the Naval chief said.

“It’s very important to harness the technology that is available and [when you find your network] getting countered by an adversary, you have to have the ability to be resilient and to learn, improve and stay a step ahead,” the Admiral said

Technological innovations such as space-based surveillance, artificial intelligence (AI) and electronic intelligence are helping Maritime commanders have better maritime domain awareness but the Ukraine war has shown the rapidity with which counter-measures are developed for all new technologies, Admiral Kumar said at a panel discussion during the strategic Raisina Dialogue held with global security experts in Delhi on March fourth..

The Indian Navy Chief, for the discussions, was joined by Admiral John Aquilino, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, the UK Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sir Ben Key, Chief of Staff of Japan’s defence ministry Gen Koji Yamazaki and the Royal Canadian Navy commander Vice Admiral Angus Topshee. The military commanders discussed a range of issues– from the impact of green fuels on the interoperability of navies to the human element using the latest technologies.

Asked about the Indian perspective on working with partners for deterrence and the potential conduct of warfare, Kumar said challenges in the maritime domain, which are both non-traditional and transnational, cannot be addressed by any individual nation.

“Therefore, there is a need for cooperation...that is something we in the maritime domain always look forward to – to find how to cooperate, how to work together. While doing this, I would say today we are looking at issue-based convergences. We may not agree on certain things, but we will agree on many other issues,” Kumar said. Talking about the impact of new commercial and military capabilities on the Maritime domain and the risk of oceans becoming “too transparent,” the Admiral said developments in space-based surveillance, improved maritime domain awareness, Artificial Intelligence, electro-optics help provide commanders with a complete picture of their surroundings.

The space needed to be covered at sea is substantial and requires a large number of space-based assets, and special capabilities are required to track moving vessels in real-time, Kumar said.