India is planning to strengthen its warfare fleet by creating integrated battle groups, inducting on demand micro-satellites, energy weapons, artificial intelligence and robotics to give its war-fighting strategy a boost.

Due to unresolved border issues of India with neighbouring countries such as China and Pakistan, India is currently facing a ‘No War, No Peace’ scenario. As per Army’s new Land warfare doctrine- 2018; India’s 1.3 million army would retaliate firmly if any adversarial attempt is made to alter its status quo.

The Times of India reported that the army will take steps to resolve “deliberate transgressions” along the 4,057-km long Line of Actual Control with China to “our advantage with minimum escalation” in consonance with existing agreements and protocols. But there is “a need to be prepared for any escalation”.

The doctrine also outlined that all conventional wars will take place through ‘networked theatre battles’ that involves the application of land, air and other maritime components.

Reportedly, all the battalions will have a mix of infantry, armoured artillery, air defence, signals and engineers, backed by attack helicopters and will be under the command of major-generals.

A senior officer informed TOI that the IBGs will be self-contained, highly mobile and flexible. The army was even ready to respond to deliberate transgressions with punitive measures such as the surgical strikes of 2016 and that there was a need for the army to be prepared for any kind of escalation.

Dwelling upon “human-machine teaming”, it says: “At the core of our future military planning will be the effective integration of soldiers, AI and robotics into war-fighting systems that exploit existing capabilities for success in battle.”