Indian Army chief General Dhiraj Seth on Sunday, 27 September 2026 declared that a land victory remains the only 'tangible factor' of success in any war, even as technological innovations continue to reshape modern defence strategy. Speaking at the NDTV Defence Summit 2026 in New Delhi, the Army chief delivered a pointed assessment of contemporary warfare, self-reliance, and the evolving nature of conflict.

Land as the Irreducible Measure of Victory

General Seth argued that no amount of information warfare or digital firepower can substitute for physical territorial control. 'We see salvo after salvo in today's social media covering warfare across the globe, where information narratives and warfare are being fired to fog the real battle picture, creating uncertainty and confusion... However, I strongly feel, through all this clutter, one reality that does not change: land will always be the one and only tangible and useful factor of success,' he said.

He further emphasised that victory is — and will remain — measured in territorial terms, and that territory 'will be occupied, secured, and defended only by the force.' At the centre of all capability development, he insisted, must be the soldier on the ground: 'Every capability must address one question: how does it help that soldier who puts his boots or tracks on the ground?'

1971 as a Defining Moment — and a Caution

The Army chief invoked a photograph taken on 16 December 1971, depicting Pakistan's surrender at the conclusion of the Bangladesh Liberation War, as an illustration of a rare, unambiguous end to conflict. 'That photo gave us a very defining moment, because that was the precise moment when the war came to an end,' he recalled. However, he warned that such clarity is increasingly rare: 'There is no demarcating moment; there is no termination point which indicates an end to the hostilities.'

Wars With Pause: The New Conflict Paradigm

General Seth cautioned that modern conflict timelines are becoming 'increasingly indefinite,' characterised by intermittent spikes of intense fighting rather than decisive conclusions. He coined a pointed phrase to describe this shift: 'These millennium wars can best be described as wars with pause. Pause, in fact, is becoming a part of military strategy, with the pause representing not the domination of conflict but merely a change in its intensity and manifestation.' He acknowledged that technology is 'certainly shortening the battles, but it is not necessarily shortening the war.'

Atmanirbharta: Self-Reliance as a Strategic Imperative

Underlining the importance of defence self-reliance, General Seth argued that when a crisis becomes prolonged, being atmanirbhar (self-reliant) could mark the difference between victory and defeat. 'Atmanirbharta must be about ensuring that we have the capability to endure without being constrained by what others can or cannot provide,' he said, calling for a hard look at India's indigenous capability pathways.

However, the Army chief also flagged the risk of what he termed 'indigenous obsolescence' — a trap where domestically developed equipment becomes outdated before it can be deployed. 'The challenge is not just to reduce dependencies on others but also to ensure that what we develop indigenously does not become outdated by the time it is dumped,' he cautioned.

This comes amid a significant expansion in India's domestic defence output. According to government data, the value of indigenous defence production rose from ₹46,429 crore in 2014-15 to a record ₹1.78 lakh crore in 2025-26. General Seth's remarks underscore that as the production base grows, the quality, relevance, and speed of indigenisation must keep pace with rapidly evolving global threats.