Warfare is an ever changing game because as time passes, it becomes more and more complex as various modes emerge to handle its ever changing nature. Development in technology has ensured this, as warfare is no longer the same thing as it was 20-30 years back.

The Indian Armed Forces are one of the world’s most powerful military forces, possessing one of the largest assortments of manpower and weaponry across Army, Navy and Air Force, ranking number 4 in terms of overall strength according to Global Fire Power, behind only USA, Russia and China.

A major economy as well, India is aiming to be a future superpower, and no country can call itself a superpower if it’s not self reliant in all spheres be it economy or defence, and the military has joined in the chorus as well. A key component in this is the reduction of weapon imports and boosting indigenous production of weapons, which also means giving a greater boost to R&D.

Now this is a difficult prospect given as India is among the world’s largest weapons importer, though enough emphasis has been placed on indigenization of weapons production in the last few years, thus making the idea of Indian military becoming self reliant in the near future more than possible.

The Armed Forces are currently undergoing a rapid transformational phase to enhance efficacy in regards to various aspects, spanning from operational and capability development, structural reforms, administration to eventually become self reliant. This is being done to make the Indian military a more future ready force prepared to meet all the future requirements of war in all fields from geo-strategic to the great many changes coming up in the socio-economic field.

Modernization means preparing the Armed Forces for the future by making them more advanced and battle ready, by increasing self reliance and optimizing resources through equipping them with modern weapons and platforms, as well as supporting them with technology based systems to obtain maximum efficiency in order to handle the changing nature of warfare, be it kinetic or non kinetic/5th generation warfare.