‘We won Op Sindoor’ by integrating diverse systems: Why India’s military systems must 'talk' to each other | Exclusive

India's ability to integrate diverse military systems during Operation Sindoor offered a key lesson for future warfare — weapons, sensors and platforms from different manufacturers must be able to communicate and operate together seamlessly, Dr Jaijit Bhattacharya, technology policy expert, told LiveMint.

“We won Operation Sindoor because we were perhaps the only military in the world capable of integrating diverse military systems together,” Bhattacharya told LiveMint on the sidelines of the Defence Tech Summit, which was organized by the Centre for Emerging Technologies at USI.

Bhattacharya, President, Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research (C-DEP), said India's growing reliance on networked systems, data and artificial intelligence makes open architecture and interoperability increasingly important for the armed forces.

According to Bhattacharya, the challenge is to ensure that interoperability is built into defence systems from the design stage, rather than being created by the military during an operation.

Bhattacharya said modern militaries cannot afford to rely on closed technology ecosystems that restrict the integration of systems from different manufacturers.

“We need to have open systems and open architecture. You just can't give me a closed system like let's say Apple as an example and say you can only integrate my systems and my missiles. That is not acceptable," he said.

The issue is particularly relevant as Indian armed forces operate a wide range of platforms and weapons sourced from multiple domestic and foreign manufacturers.

Bhattacharya said India's experience during Operation Sindoor showed that the military could overcome these technological barriers, but warned that such integration should not depend on workarounds.

“But we did it in spite of the providers of the military systems, not because they facilitated it,” he said.

Why military technology must adapt

Bhattacharya said that militaries cannot assume that technologies that prove effective in one conflict will retain the same advantage in the next.

“Lesson number one from every single operation is that the moment the operation is over, everything that you used to win the battle and the war more or less becomes obsolete immediately. Every battle is different,” he said.

‘If the data is poisoned, that limits my brain from doing the war.’

As warfare becomes increasingly data-centric, Bhattacharya said protecting the integrity of military data is becoming as important as collecting it.

“One of the key pillars of warfare is data-centric warfare. If the data is poisoned, then that limits my brain to do the war,” he said.

He compared military communications and data networks with the nervous system of a biological organism.

“In the biological world, you will see that the most poisonous snakes are the ones with neurotoxins. If you compromise the communication system, the neural systems, then that's the most deadly impact.”

Software backdoors could create new battlefield risks

Bhattacharya also flagged vulnerabilities within the software powering modern military equipment.

“In those billions of lines of code written, you'll have a command saying 'in case I want to get into it as a manufacturer, I should be able to get in through this back door'... so technologies become critical,” he said.

Cheap drones, expensive missiles

The proliferation of inexpensive drones has created another challenge for militaries: avoiding a situation where a low-cost unmanned platform requires a vastly more expensive weapon to destroy it.

Bhattacharya said India's response demonstrated the importance of matching countermeasures to the type of threat.

“The beauty of what the military did was create a response which is unprecedented, and use different kinds of weapons for different kinds of drones. We do not want to spend millions of dollars' worth of missiles against small, cheap drones,” he said.

Intelligence is moving beyond 360 degrees

Bhattacharya said military intelligence is also evolving as technology expands the sources and dimensions of information available to armed forces.

“Information gathering is 360 degrees, and it's going beyond 360° with Adint,” he said.

On AI, Bhattacharya said India cannot build an AI-enabled military simply by adapting technologies developed elsewhere.

“Unless you've got an industrial complex, you can't build the military on top of it,” he said. “In AI, we don't have those systems in place. An AI-enabled military would require more than algorithms," he added.

Neuro-symbolic AI could provide guardrails

Bhattacharya also discussed the need for safeguards when AI is deployed in sensitive military applications.

“Either you distil the open-source models that are available, and then you put guard rails on it — basically, it's called neuro-symbolic AI. The neuro part is what you distil, and the symbolic part you code around it so that there is no incorrect action that the AI does,” he said.

About the Author

Bhanu Pratap is a journalist who reports and writes on foreign affairs, India’s foreign policy, geopolitics and strategic affairs. He closely follows diplomatic developments in New Delhi and has a keen interest in defence and national security.<br> <br> Bhanu also focuses on in-depth, interview-based reports and regularly speaking with experts and policymakers to bring perspectives and context to major developments around the world.<br> <br> He is also interested in stories with strong humanitarian angles.<br><br> One such report examined the cases of Indian nationals who were allegedly recruited and forced into Russia’s war against Ukraine. While reporting the story, Bhanu spoke to the families of those affected and documented their experiences. The report was later taken into account by the United Nations in its findings on human rights violations linked to the war in Ukraine.<br> <br> For Bhanu, the zeal to produce meaningful and impactful journalism remains at the heart of his work.<br> <br>He has previously worked with Firstpost, NDTV, Newslaundry and Republic.<br><br> Bhanu studied at the Delhi School of Journalism, University of Delhi. He initially chose science with plans to pursue engineering, influenced by conventional expectations, but fate had other plans and eventually led him to journalism.<br><br> Beyond the newsroom, Bhanu enjoys exploring culture and history and often spends his days off on heritage walks. He is also passionate about travelling, biking and listening to folk music.<br> <br>For tips, reviews and suggestions, you can reach him at bhanu.pratap@htdigital.in.

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