New Delhi

Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, speaking at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue in Delhi on Thursday, highlighted how emerging domains such as cyberspace, space and cognitive warfare are reshaping the nature of conflict and challenging traditional ideas of borders and sovereignty.

He said these new domains have made sovereignty “functionally porous” and noted similar trends in conflicts in Eastern Europe and West Asia, where borders and territorial claims are being reinterpreted.

Gen Chauhan stressed that conventional deterrence is losing relevance, pointing to the narrowing gap between rhetoric and actual capability, which is adding instability to the global nuclear landscape.

The CDS underscored the growing importance of multi-domain warfare, citing Operation Sindoor as an example of how modern weapons can now target an adversary’s natural, network, economic and information spaces. As technology advances, he said, more domains will become part of warfare, with cyber and media already playing major roles.

He noted that the battle space has expanded and become nonlinear, collapsing older notions of front, intermediate and depth. With modern systems reaching across multiple layers of an adversary’s infrastructure, warfare is no longer limited to land, sea or air but spans all domains simultaneously.

Gen Chauhan said technology is increasingly diminishing geography’s role in strategy and predicted a major shift driven by AI, hypersonics, robotics, autonomous systems and sensor-dense battlefields. He called for doctrines suited to multi-domain operations and urged intellectual honesty and preparedness to secure Viksit Bharat@2047.

The Chanakya Defence Dialogue 2025 began on Thursday at the Manekshaw Centre with President Droupadi Murmu in attendance. Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi delivered the keynote address. Organised by the Indian Army with the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, the forum focuses on India’s security challenges and technological frontiers.

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Day two will feature a special session led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who will unveil key initiatives and address defence reforms for a secure and developed India. The two-day event aims to chart a roadmap for India’s future security architecture through strategic discussions involving military leaders, diplomats, industry experts and scholars.