The Ministry of Defence has said that the second edition of Ran Samwad, a tri-service strategic seminar under the aegis of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), has commenced in Bengaluru on Thursday, 9 April.
The two-day seminar is being organised by the Air Force Training Command and was inaugurated by Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan.
It is centred around the theme “Multi-Domain Operations (MDO): An Imperative for Addressing Conventional and Irregular Threats.”
According to the ministry, the Multi-Domain Operations doctrine is intended to enable stakeholders across military and non-military entities to foster India’s joint warfighting capabilities across all six domains – land, sea, air, space, cyber and cognitive.
Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit said that the character of war has undergone a fundamental shift, noting that modern conflict unfolds simultaneously across multiple domains rather than sequentially.
He stated that for India, Multi-Domain Operations is not a future concept but a present necessity.
Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi characterised the modern era as a “dispersed, undeclared world war” and said that the battlefield is no longer a map but a layered and complex adaptive system.
He emphasised that Multi-Domain Operations is not about six domains operating in parallel, but in constant and dynamic interaction where the weight shifts and the lead changes.
He further stated that the Indian Army is accelerating Integration, Informatisation and Intelligentisation to move beyond “Domain Purity” towards total domain fusion.
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Highlighting operational milestones, he noted that the Army has operationalised Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs), Divyastra Drone Batteries and Command Cyber Operations Wings.
The Chief of Army Staff also called for a new command culture where leaders “command technology rather than merely operate it” to ensure decision advantage, adding that while Operation Sindoor demonstrated India’s jointness, the goal remains a seamless “Whole of Nation” architecture.
Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi presented a maritime perspective on Multi-Domain Operations, stating that the modern maritime domain has evolved into an interconnected grid extending from the seabed to space.
He noted that the maritime battlespace is shaped by speed, scale and simultaneity.
He further stated that the Indian Navy is on course towards becoming a 200-plus ship force by 2035, with new inductions focused on modularity and technological evolution.
The Navy is also pursuing augmentation of capabilities through uncrewed and autonomous systems in line with the Indian Navy Vision for Unmanned Systems 2022-30.
The seminar is conducted annually on a rotational basis among the three services and brings together senior officers, academicians, think-tank scholars, industry experts and foreign service attaches from friendly nations.
It will conclude on 10 April with a collaborative roadmap for preparing the Indian Armed Forces for multi-domain conflict.
