Top brass concludes Army Commander's Conference, lessons from ongoing conflicts discussed amidst renewed self-reliance call

The meeting of India's top military commanders, known as the Army Commander's Conference, has concluded in the national capital. The three day conference was chaired by General Upendra Dwivedi, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), top military leaders such as the vice-chief, the seven army commanders and other senior officers attended the meeting.

The meeting was held to discuss a wide variety of issues. Modernisation of the army was one of the main issues discussed at the biannual conference, this as the army is in the middle of an across the board massive modernisation drive as the organisation is evolving into what is termed as a 'Future Ready Force'. The army, in the middle of its decade of transformation, is marking 2026 as the year of networking and data centricity.

Different aspects related to modernising the force were discussed at the conference. These discussions were related to technology infusion in combat operations. Changes in doctrine and training within the army that will lead to the aforementioned technological infusion in operations were also discussed by the top brass during the conference.

Lessons learnt through Operation Sindoor and military actions in ongoing conflicts was also discussed in the meeting. The use of unmanned platforms and counter-unmanned systems as well as the operational capability requirements of these systems was a key focus area for the army leadership.

Besides the military top brass, Cabinet Secretary Dr TV Somanathan, Chief of Defence Staff General Upendra Dwivedi, Defence Secretary RK Singh, Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board Alok Joshi and Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi addressed the conference.

The talks at the conference also focussed on inter-ministerial coordination along with increased synergy between civil and military institutions was a key thrust area of the three-day affair. The need to ramp-up indigenous defence production capabilities in order to strengthen strategic resilience and increase self-reliance in the defence sector has been an important lesson derived from ongoing conflicts.