Army chief MM Naravane: Balakot strikes show if one is skillful, escalation does not always lead to war

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New Delhi: India's Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane on Wednesday (March 4) claimed that in future fighting wars will evolve faster and 'how wars will be fought' will also change. He also said, “While the nature of war has not changed but the character of war has”. The army chief was speaking at a seminar on land warfare in New Delhi.

On Balakot strikes, he said that the airstrikes demonstrated that if one is skilful, escalation does not always lead to war. The Balakot airstrike took place on February 26 2019 when Indian warplanes crossed the border into Pakistan and dropped bombs near the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Talking about other issues like the changing of iconic warfare characters and rise of non-state actors like terrorist demands that victory in war is formulated in a nuanced manner.

He also spoke about China's dominance in the South China Sea and how it achieved its aim in small steps without firing a single shot.

Similarly, he said India was also focusing on dynamic response. "We are refining our capacities on both the western and northern borders. We are developing both kinetic and non-kinetic methods," he said.

Commenting on the use of social media at war, he claimed that the ISIS was more adept in using it for devastating effects as compared to 21st-century armies of the US, UK.