Introduction
While the nature of war as described by Clausewitz is immutable, as in every armed conflict, where one side seeks to impose its will on another through the use of organized force and violence. But the character of war, how armies fight, where and in which manner the fighting occurs, use of new technologies in the weapons brought to bear on the battlefield and leadership skills, are all evolving. The definition of war today is no longer restrictive, and multi domain operations are shaping outcomes across the globe. However, land still remains the dominant domain, as this is the medium inhabited by humans, and where the results matter.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh decided that the reforms should aim to further bolster jointness and integration initiatives.
With this at the back of the minds of decision makers, on the eve of the New Year, in order to give impetus to the ongoing and future reforms, the Ministry of Defence decided to observe 2025 as the ‘Year of Reforms.’
A pivotal initiative to modernise and streamline the country’s defence apparatus, it is aimed at transforming the Armed Forces into a technologically-advanced combat-ready force capable of multi-domain integrated operations. The Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh stated that this “will lay the foundation for unprecedented advancements in the country’s defence preparedness, thus preparing to ensure the security and sovereignty of the nation amidst the challenges of the 21st century.”
The announcement and its language are a bold signaling of political intent: that the reforms will be wide ranging and focused, in order to effect change, infusing innovation and technology, leading to operational effectiveness.
India’s Threat Perceptions

The world today is in the midst of a transition towards multipolarity and herein, India with its strong military power, growing economic and diplomatic heft has emerged as an important player. However, the strategic environment in which India has to navigate its national interests is marked by Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA). The present period can easily be termed as one of extraordinary geopolitical conflicts and resurgence of great power competition.
Pakistan and China continue to be permanent external threats. There is also greater collusivity between the two countries. In Pakistan’s case, the line between internal and external threats is blurred as Islamabad continues its proxy war by exporting terrorists to destabilise India, especially in J&K. India’s biggest threat is China, with its increasing territorial ambitions ranging from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh. India therefore needs to augment its military capabilities rapidly to counter the twin threats on its Eastern and Western borders. To meet the threats reforms are imperative.
The Reforms
The Defence Ministry’s nine-point reform agenda include the following:
- To further bolster Jointness and Integration initiatives and facilitate the establishment of the Integrated Theatre Commands.
- Focus on new domains such as cyber and space, and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Hypersonics and Robotics. Associated tactics, techniques and procedures required to win future wars should also be developed.
- Develop a shared understanding of operational requirements and joint operational capabilities through inter-service cooperation and training.
- Simplify acquisition procedures to make them time-sensitive, facilitating swifter and more robust capability development.
- Facilitate technology transfer and knowledge sharing between the Defence Sector and civil industries, and promoting public-private partnerships by improving the ease of doing business.
- Focus on collaboration across various stakeholders in the defence ecosystem. Breaking silos. Effective civil-military coordination should aim to eliminate inefficiencies and optimise resources.
- Position India as a credible exporter of defence products, fostering R&D and partnerships between Indian industries and foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for knowledge sharing & resource integration.
- Ensuring the welfare of veterans while leveraging their expertise. Efforts will be made towards optimization of welfare measures for veterans.
- Instilling a sense of pride in Indian culture and ideas, fostering confidence in achieving global standards through indigenous capabilities, while imbibing best practices from modern militaries that suit the nation’s conditions.
An Ongoing Process
While all the right boxes have been ticked, reforms are not new to the Armed Forces. Few years after the stellar victory in the 1971 War, where the Indian Army used manoeuvre and blitzkrieg in the Eastern Theatre, General TN Raina, MVC ordered a monumental study headed by Lieutenant General KV Krishna Rao along with Major General K Sunderji and Major General ML Chibber to research, studyArjun and recommend the management of India’s military security till the turn of the century. The aim was to think through clearly on how to better prepare the Army for future wars. Re-structing of formations, mechanisation, raisings and relocation of formations were issues deliberated upon in detail and formed the basis for India’s procurements and modernisation.
In the aftermath of the Kargil War of 1999, the Kargil Review Committee (KRC) was set up “to examine the sequence of events and make recommendations for the future”. Following the KRC Report, a Group of Ministers (GoM) was set up in April 2000 to consider their recommendations. Their report on “Reforming the National Security System” was submitted to Prime Minister Vajpayee in February 2001. Among other reforms, they recommended restructuring the Ministry of Defence and Service Headquarters, promoting jointness, and establishing the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). The government thereafter created an Integrated Defence Staff in November 2001 and accepted most other suggestions though there are still some suggestions pending implementation.
However, appointing a CDS, mainly because of political apprehensions and resistance from different bureaucracies, was only announced on 15 August 2019 and appointed on 01 January 2020. According to former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash, this was the “most significant development in the national security domain since Independence.”
The appointment of a CDS came with a mandate to promote jointness within the military, and to establish joint Theatre Commands. This was an important directive since there were disagreements between the Services regarding the models of jointness. The appointment of the CDS has no doubt reconfigured relationships between the three Services, civilian defense bureaucracy, and political leadership.
Modernisation programmes have three main goals: the first is to improve defence preparedness in the face of complex national security challenges, the second is to streamline and rationalize the acquisition procedure and allocation of scarce resources; the third, is to develop a defence industrial ecosystem, which is essential.
In the recent past, a series of measures were put into place. In 2021, the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh released a booklet of 20 reforms designed to make India a military-industrial power, pointing to these three goals. The government’s priority for building up India’s military-industrial complex “Atmanirbhar Bharat” is in large part due to Prime Minister Modi’s vision of India as not simply a regional power but a rising global power.
The fact brought out by multiple analysts over the years is that India’s defence structures have not kept pace with changing times. The defence reforms that were undertaken periodically were reactive in nature and, in many cases, responses to crises as well as being sporadic, piecemeal and often ad hoc.
Key Takeaways
The focus will be to roll out Integrated Theatre Commands to boost Tri-Services synergy and ensure simpler and time-sensitive military procurement with a broader aim to transform the military into a technologically-advanced force.
The overall aim of the nine-point reforms planned will also ensure deeper collaboration among key stakeholders, break silos, eliminate inefficiencies and optimiseutilisation of resources. The reforms should focus on new domains such as cyber and space, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, hypersonic and robotics.
While associated tactics, techniques and procedures required to win future wars will also be developed, the aim is developing a shared understanding of operational requirements and joint operational capabilities through inter-service cooperation and training.
The need to make acquisition procedures simpler and time-sensitive to facilitate swifter capability development has also been highlighted. The aim of the defence reforms also includes rolling out steps to facilitate technology transfer and knowledge sharing between the defence sector and civil industries and promoting public-private partnerships by improving ease of doing business. The reforms have underlined the need for focusing on collaboration across various stakeholders in the defence ecosystem and breaking silos. The Defence Ministry will work towards positioning India as a credible exporter of defence products, fostering R&D and partnerships between Indian industries and foreign original equipment manufacturers.

On 02 January the Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh visited DRDO to mark its 67th Foundation Day. In his address, he asserted that DRDO will play a ‘crucial role’ in transforming the military into a technologically-advanced force and achieving the set objectives of the reforms. He called upon DRDO to continue moving ahead in sync with the rapidly-evolving technological ecosystem, and keep coming out with products that are relevant to the changing times. He urged the scientists to develop niche technologies and appreciated the efforts of DRDO towards increasing the collaboration with the private sector, including providing its technologies and free access to its patents.
He also called upon DRDO to explore the possibility of including start-ups in its R&D efforts. This would promote valuable exchange of ideas and provide an opportunity for the Indian defence sector to come out with innovative technologies according to the changing times and said that “DRDO can play the role of a catalyst for other similar organisations, academia and industry which can help in bringing a technological revolution in the country”.
Challenges Persist
The reforms announced are no doubt a step in the right direction which will give an impetus to the restricting as far as the setting up of Theatre Commands is concerned, focus on the modernisation of the Armed Forces in alignment with the threats faced by the country and imbibe the lessons learnt in the ongoing conflicts as far as technology is concerned. The longstanding hurdles in implementing Integrated Theatre Commands, is a key reform priority but its success will hinge on execution and cooperation across stakeholders. The Theatre Commanders must be duly empowered in terms forces and mandate.
Apart from this there is however an urgency of simplifying the acquisition procedures to ensure that technology obsolescence doesn’t outpace procurement cycles. Time-bound acquisition cycles are vital to align industry investments with the government’s goals and to provide state-of-the-art solutions.
Speaking at the 21st Subroto Mukerjee Seminar, the Defence Secretary RK Singh described India’s defence procurement system as “broken” and plagued by delays. He stated that “our procurement policy, for a long time, has been broken, and I make no secret of that. It’s true—we’ve not been able to do things on time,” Singh said. He added, “The timelines we’ve given ourselves are too luxurious,” and pointed out that “very basic things like preparing Requests for Proposal (RFPs) in time, even before you go for an Acceptance of Necessity (AON), were not being done”.
He also said that requirements were often “gold-plated”—suggesting they included overly ambitious or rigid specifications—while evaluation processes remained lengthy. “It’s time to call a spade a spade. We have to move on to a different approach”.
There is a need for increasing the role of startups and innovation in integrating advanced technologies into defence systems. AI and other technologies are already being deployed in control systems. The Defence Ministry must lead the race for ascendancy in the domain of critical, emerging, technologies, since these technologies lie at the cusp of civil-military fusion. Finally, the success of the defence ecosystem will lie in the integration and proliferation of startups.
Multi-domain high-tech operations require multi-skilling and multi-competencies to prevail in a future conflict. Further self-sufficiency and self-reliance for desired war stamina is an imperative.
Apart from procedural delays and policy obstacles, financial limitations impact the modernisation pace. Delay in acquiring advanced technologies hinders operational readiness. The Finance Section often raises questions of propriety, wisdom and policy even after expenditures have been approved. For reforms to take place at a pace that ensures India remains ahead, defence reforms need matching budgetary allocations. Thus, internal tension exists between the competing cultures of civilian bureaucracy and military profession.
Lieutenant General Raj Shukla (Retd) stated ‘a top priority has to be the re-establishment of strategic-deterrence in four critical domains: stealth enabled offensive air power, a nationwide AD topology, a drone-missile force and a maritime surge’.
Unfortunately, the use of force as an instrument of strategic restraint instead of a decisive instrument of hard power has hampered both modernization and transformation over the years.
Conclusion
The defence eco system is large and not only involves the three Services but also defence research and defence manufacturing in terms of both the public and private sector and even procurement. The CDS General Anil Chauhan recently highlighted the path being taken by the Armed Forces including laying down a detailed road map and policy objectives. Releasing Vision 2047 as well as the Integrated Capability & Development Plans, Joint Doctrines, Policies regarding emerging technologies such as Space, Quantum and AI , structural and organisation reforms and setting up of a Joint Operations & Planning Room.
The Indian Armed Forces today stand on the brink of major transformation and modernisation, including technology induction for future wars. The goal of becoming a modern, adaptive, and tech-savvy force is not just a dream but an imperative in today’s world, where technology is fast overtaking warfare and multi-domain security threats are becoming more complex and ambiguous.
It is imperative to carry out reforms and transform to fight the wars of the future as not only is the induction of newer weaponry, platforms and technology is essential. The introduction of newer doctrines and military structures and streamlining procedures and policies that have been seen as a stumbling block must be carried with due diligence and urgency in order to fight future conflicts.
This transformation will require not just technological innovation, and a commitment towards force restructuring, to enable the Armed Forces to be fully prepared for multi-spectrum warfare across all domains but most importantly allocation and commitment of resources for meaningful transformation and oversight to manage the turfs between various stakeholders, entrenched interests in the past have overcome reform efforts.
India in the past decade has made headway in the area of defence reforms. Today, changes in India’s neighbourhood and beyond have provided a critical imperative for the government to act quickly on both strategic reorientation and military reform. Hence it has taken up the mantle of defence reforms in a serious manner.
The successful implementation of such reforms can significantly transform the capabilities of the Armed Forces. Challenges and constraints remain. Armed Forces reforms are a dynamic and ongoing process and given the stakes, will require sustained political will to ensure concrete outcomes. 2025 must be a watershed for defence reforms as was 1991 for economic reforms.
US Armed Forces and Reforms
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the US Army sought to identify and redress factors contributing to real or perceived failures in war; and has proactively sought to prevent circumstances that place it at a strategic disadvantage. The US Army has aimed at redefining national security threats and missions to new world realities.
Two things stood out one the implementation of comprehensive change requires an organizational entity with broad authority able to craft, evaluate, and execute an integrated program of reforms. In the case of the US Army in the 1970s and 1980s, this organization was the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), next the process of developing, implementing, and institutionalising complementary reforms can take several decades.
Incidentally, in 1982, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General David Jones, asked Congress to step in and mandate major reform of the joint system. Jones argued that the Chairman was too weak, that the Services were too involved in operations, and that the unified commanders did not have unified command authority.
Finally, reforms were thrust down by the Goldwater–Nichols Act in 1986 which brought sweeping changes to the way the US military forces were organized fixed problems caused by inter-service rivalry. The Act has been with the successes of the First Gulf War and the implementation of “jointness” at both the operational and administrative levels. The positive changes in the US military operational command structure begat by Goldwater-Nichols have proven effective.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Major General Jagatbir Singh VSM, (Retd), has held various command, staff and instructional appointments and served in varied terrains in the country. He has served in a United Nations Peace Keeping Mission as a Military Observer in Iraq and Kuwait. He has been an instructor to Indian Military Academy and the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He has commanded the prestigious 1 Armoured Division. He is a prolific writer in defence& national security and is a Distinguished Fellow at USI.