When American forces executed Operation Absolute Resolve on 3 January 2026, striking targets across Venezuela and capturing President Nicolás Maduro with surgical precision, the world witnessed more than just another military operation. It was a masterclass in intelligence fusion, joint force coordination, technological superiority and strategic patience. For India, watching from thousands of miles away, this operation should serve as both inspiration and warning.
The strike involved over 150 aircraft launching from 20 bases across the Western Hemisphere, supported by Delta Force operators and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Months of meticulous intelligence gathering by the CIA, NSA and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency preceded the actual assault. Despite being ready in early December 2025, American commanders waited for optimal weather conditions. When they finally moved in the predawn hours, the result was devastating effectiveness, Venezuela’s air defences were neutralised, Caracas was plunged into darkness through cyber and electronic warfare and the extraction force completed its mission with precision.
This wasn’t just about military muscle. It was about preparedness, self-reliance and the kind of defence ecosystem that allows a nation to project power when its interests are threatened.
India’s Strategic Environment: No Room for Complacency
India faces a vastly different but equally challenging security landscape. We share contested borders with two nuclear-armed neighbours, one of which has demonstrated territorial ambitions repeatedly. Our maritime interests span from the Arabian Sea to the South China Sea. Non state actors continue to probe our vulnerabilities. And increasingly, the battlespace extends into domains our grandparents never imagined that is cyber, space and electronic warfare.
The Balakot Air Strikes of 2019 showed India’s willingness to act decisively across the Line of Control. The Galwan Valley response demonstrated resolve in the face of provocation. But capability and resolve are two sides of the same coin, and both require sustained effort.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth now, India’s defence spending as a percentage of GDP has been declining. From around 2.5 percent in early 2000s, it hovers near 2 percent today. Meanwhile, our primary adversary spends over 1.5 percent officially, with actual figures likely far higher, backed by an economy nearly five times our size. The mathematics is sobering.
The Self Reliance Imperative
Operation Absolute Resolve demonstrated something crucial, that technological asymmetry decides modern conflicts. American forces employed satellite reconnaissance, stealth technology, electronic warfare capabilities that disabled Venezuela’s power grid, real time intelligence sharing and precision guided munitions. This wasn’t about having more troops. It was about having better systems. For decades, India has been the world’s largest arms importer. We’ve relied on foreign suppliers for everything from fighter jets to artillery to basic infantry equipment. This dependence in my opinion creates three critical vulnerabilities.
First, it compromises operational autonomy. When spare parts, ammunition or upgrades depend on foreign suppliers, our ability to sustain operations comes with strings attached. Sanctions, political pressure or simple supply chain disruptions can ground aircraft or sideline weapon systems at critical moments.
Second, it bleeds resources. Importing weapons is expensive and the costs extend far beyond the initial purchase. Maintenance, training, technology transfer agreements and upgrade packages drain billions that could fund indigenous research and development.
Third, it stifles innovation. When our defence establishment becomes comfortable with imported solutions, the incentive to develop homegrown alternatives diminishes. We become consumers of technology rather than creators, perpetually playing catch up in capabilities that define modern warfare.
The Atmanirbhar Bharat vision in defence isn’t mere nationalism. It’s strategic necessity. Countries that cannot produce their own weapons systems ultimately cannot guarantee their own security.
Planning to Execution: Where India Must Improve
Operation Absolute Resolve’s success rested on four pillars that India must strengthen.
- Intelligence Integration: The American intelligence community spent months creating a comprehensive picture of Maduro’s location, movements and protection. Multiple agencies contributed their unique capabilities and synthesized findings into actionable intelligence. General Dan Caine noted they tracked what Maduro ate, wore, where he travelled, even his pets. India has capable intelligence agencies, but they often operate in silos. RAW focuses on external threats, IB on internal security and military intelligence serves specific service needs. True fusion, where information flows seamlessly and analysis is genuinely joint, remains aspirational and is work in progress.
- Jointness in Operations: Perhaps nothing from Operation Absolute Resolve speaks louder than the seamless coordination of aircraft from Navy, Air Force and Marines plus special operations forces and law enforcement. Twenty different launch sites coordinated to the second. Each service contributed its strengths, subordinating institutional pride to mission success. India’s efforts toward jointness, particularly the proposed theatre commands, have some inherent delays. Each service guards its own priorities and operational autonomy. But modern warfare is different, there has to be interoperability. When there is threat, jointness in equipment is a must.
- Technology Superiority: The technological edge American forces enjoyed wasn’t accidental. Space Command, Cyber Command and other integrated capabilities disabled Venezuela’s defences before the extraction force even arrived. Trump acknowledged that “the lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have.” Electronic warfare aircraft, stealth platforms, real time surveillance and precision munitions created undue advantage. India has made progress through programs like Tejas, indigenous artillery and missile development. But we’re still heavily dependent on imports for critical systems. Our defence R&D spending is a fraction of what major powers invest. Our private sector remains underutilized despite recent reforms. The innovation ecosystem that feeds American military superiority simply doesn’t exist at comparable scale in India.
- Strategic Patience: American commanders waited weeks for optimal conditions despite being ready in December 2025. Weather, intelligence alignment and tactical conditions all had to converge. This discipline reflects confidence, which itself reflects capability. When you know your systems work and your forces are prepared, you can afford patience. India’s operations have sometimes shown this quality. The post Pulwama and Pahalgam response was measured, not impulsive. But sustained capability allows sustained patience. When your forces are properly equipped, trained and supported, you can choose your moment rather than having it chosen for you by equipment limitations or readiness concerns.
The Fiscal Reality: Investment, Not Expenditure
Critics of increased defence spending point to competing priorities like poverty, education, healthcare, infrastructure. These concerns are legitimate. But they create a false choice. Defence spending isn’t consumption that produces nothing. It’s investment that enables everything else. Without security, there is no development. Without territorial integrity, there is no sovereignty. Without deterrence, there is constant crisis that bleeds resources and attention from nation-building.
Moreover, defence spending done right multiplies throughout the economy. Indigenous defence production creates jobs, develops technology with civilian applications, builds industrial capacity and keeps resources within the country. Israel spends over 5 percent of GDP on defence, yet maintains a thriving economy and world class innovation ecosystem. South Korea built industrial giants like Samsung and Hyundai partly through defence related technology development.
India’s defence budget should increase to at least 3 percent of GDP, with a significant portion dedicated to indigenous R&D and procurement. This isn’t militarism. It’s realism about the neighbourhood we live in and the ambitions we hold.
Global Lessons: From Abbottabad to Caracas
Operation Absolute Resolve joins a select group of high-risk special operations that succeeded through meticulous planning. The 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, shares striking similarities. With months of intelligence gathering, rehearsal on replica structures, precise timing and integrated capabilities. India’s 2016 surgical strikes across the Line of Control and the 2019 Balakot air strikes and 2025 Op Sindoor demonstrated our own capabilities in this domain.
But these operations also highlight gaps. While we can execute limited strikes, do we have the intelligence infrastructure for sustained tracking? Can our forces integrate cyber, space, and kinetic effects simultaneously? Would our logistics support extended operations in contested territory? These aren’t rhetorical questions they’re capability requirements that demand honest assessment and sustained investment.
Looking Forward: What Needs to Change
The lessons from Operation Absolute Resolve and India’s own experiences point toward specific reforms.
- We need accelerated theatre integration.
- Defence R&D funding must triple, with clear accountability for outcomes.
- Private sector participation must expand beyond the current baby steps, with streamlined procurement that rewards innovation.
- Intelligence agencies require integration platforms and cultural change toward true fusion.
- Long term capability planning must drive budgets, not the other way around.
- Most critically, we need political consensus that defence preparedness transcends party politics. Opposition and government must agree that whatever their other differences, maintaining competitive military capabilities serves the nation’s fundamental interests.
Conclusion: Capability Buys Choice
Operation Absolute Resolve succeeded because America had built, over decades, the capability to project power when its interests demanded. The operation wasn’t improvised. It drew on infrastructure, technology, training and institutional capacity developed through sustained investment and clear strategic thinking. India stands at a crossroads.
We can continue muddling through with modest budgets, incomplete reforms, and heavy import dependence. Or we can commit to building comprehensive defence capability that matches our ambitions and addresses our threats. The choice will define whether we shape our strategic environment or are shaped by it. The question isn’t whether India can afford to increase defence spending and achieve self-reliance. It’s whether we can afford not to. In a world where capability determines outcomes and technology defines warfare; there is no security on the cheap. Operation Absolute Resolve reminded us of that. The only question is whether we’re listening.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Air Marshal (Dr) Sanjeev Kapoor (Retd) a pilot, with over 8000 hrs of flying. He is a flying instructor and a pioneer in aerial refuelling in IAF. He commanded the air-to-air refuelling squadron, a large operational base, Air Force Academy and National Defence Academy. He holds an Airline Pilot License and is part of various think tanks, boards and studies.
