Restructuring for India’s Disputed Borders: An Appraisal

In the present geopolitical melee, the tools of strategic coercion and conflicts are finding new ways to achieve the desired end. The need today is to restructure and reshape a ‘big war military with smart, lean, agile and combined arms joint warfare smart capabilities’. India’s military strategy must focus on ‘offensive domination with maneuver warfare orientation rather than attritionist ground holding mindsets. The restructuring philosophy will accordingly need to focus on a ‘capability-based approach with deterrence based on denial’. The operational need is to move from large bulky formations to modular technology-enabled networked Brigades and Divisional sized Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs). The challenge is to restructure in an institutionalized time-bound manner that is neither too much too soon nor too little too late