India’s defence preparedness must extend beyond the acquisition of advanced military platforms and focus equally on sustaining combat operations over long periods, strengthening industrial capacity and building resilient national infrastructure, according to Israeli strategic expert Shay Gal.

Gal, founder and principal of Line of State, a strategic advisory practice that works with governments and senior decision-makers on risk and security issues, said contemporary warfare has evolved significantly. He argued that military success is no longer determined solely by an effective initial strike but by a country's ability to endure a prolonged conflict involving missiles, drones, cyberattacks and sustained operational demands.

Drawing lessons from ongoing global conflicts, Gal noted that repeated waves of missile and drone attacks place pressure not only on military air-defence systems but also on civilian continuity, logistics networks and industrial supply chains. He cautioned that even highly effective interception rates cannot guarantee success if critical services are disrupted or if armed forces are unable to replenish depleted inventories.

He highlighted the changing economics of modern warfare, warning that nations cannot indefinitely rely on costly interceptor missiles to counter large numbers of inexpensive drones and rockets. 

According to Gal, more sustainable solutions include affordable counter-drone technologies, advanced electronic warfare capabilities and directed-energy weapons, provided those systems have been properly tested and validated under real operational conditions.

Emphasising the importance of defence manufacturing, Gal said that technological innovation alone is not enough. “Production capacity is a combat capability,” he stated, arguing that countries must possess the ability to manufacture equipment at scale, replenish stockpiles, undertake repairs and support weapon systems throughout their entire operational life cycle.

Gal also called for a significant transformation in India-Israel defence cooperation. Rather than continuing with a traditional buyer-seller relationship, he advocated a model centred on genuine co-development and co-production. Such an approach, he argued, would provide India with deeper technological participation and greater strategic autonomy.

Referring to the Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) system jointly developed by DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Gal described it as an example of the type of partnership that should shape future collaboration. He said upcoming programmes should ensure Indian engineers have meaningful control over technology development, upgrades, maintenance activities and intellectual property.

He identified five major areas where India and Israel could expand cooperation. These include sovereign surveillance and decision-support systems, sustainable air and missile-defence capabilities, affordable counter-drone protection, resilient national infrastructure and the development of independent industrial capacity.

The Israeli strategist stressed that resilience has become a decisive factor in national security. Modern conflicts increasingly involve sustained pressure on military, economic and civilian systems, making self-reliance and industrial endurance as important as battlefield performance.

Gal further observed that cooperation should be a two-way exchange of knowledge and experience. Referring to Operation Sindoor, he noted that India documented the presence of Turkish-origin drones and Chinese-origin missile debris during the conflict. He suggested that Israel should carefully study India’s operational assessments, lessons learned and adaptive responses arising from those developments.

His remarks reflect a broader trend in defence planning among leading military powers, where emphasis is increasingly being placed on domestic manufacturing, supply-chain resilience, sovereign technology ownership and the capacity to sustain high-intensity operations over extended periods.

In this environment, Gal argued that long-term readiness depends not only on possessing advanced weaponry but also on maintaining the industrial and technological foundations required to support it throughout a conflict.

Agencies