Lessons and Inferences from the Characteristics of the Recent Wars

During the preceding decade, the application of regular as well as irregular military power to secure the ends of political goals has expanded beyond its classical moulds. Thus, we find that the contemporary military operations are less constrained by the hoary 'rules of warfare' - targeting of the civilians and deliberate destruction of infrastructure are some examples. On the other hand, leaping advancements in military technologies have enabled the militaries to do what had been unthinkable so far. Destined to be a globally reckonable power while fixated at the crosshairs of two powerful and compulsively belligerent neighbours, India has to take due cognisance of the lessons that emerge from that situation. In this book, eminent professionals have analysed the implications of the recent trends of warfare and the possible manners of gearing up to deal with these. Lt Gen Gautam Banerjee, PVSM, AVSM, YSM (Retd.) is a former Chief of Staff, the Central Army Command and Commandant Officers' Training Academy, Chennai. Author of over a dozen books and nearly a hundred papers on military matters, the General is a senior fellow-editor at the Vivekenanda International Foundation, New Delhi.