Armed forces must be prepared for longer conflicts: Rajnath Singh

Rajnath Singh

India's armed forces must be prepared for all kinds of security challenges including short-duration conflicts to even a five-year war in view of an unpredictable geopolitical environment, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday.

In an address at the 'Ran Samvad' at the Army War College,  Singh said India does not want anyone's land, but it is ready to go to any extent to protect its territorial integrity.

"In today's era, wars have become so sudden and unpredictable that it is very difficult to predict when any war will end and how long it will last," Singh said.

The Indian military must be prepared for every situation, he said.

"That is, if any war stretches for two months, four months, a year, two years, even five years, then we should be fully prepared for it," he said.

Singh said national security is no longer a matter of the military, but has become an issue of a "whole-of-nation approach".

"We do not want anyone's land, but we are ready to go to any extent to protect our land," the minister said in the presence of India's top military brass, including Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, Air Chief Marshal A P Singh and Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi.

He lauded the three services on Operation Sindoor and said it has emerged as a great example of the success of India's indigenous platforms, equipment and weapon systems.

"Its achievements have once again underlined that in the times to come, self-reliance is an absolute necessity. We have indeed made significant progress on the path of self-reliance, but there is still a long way ahead," he said.

Singh said the success of Operation Sindoor is a "perfect example" of bravery and swiftness with which the armed forces acted against the terrorists in Pakistan.

It was something those terrorists could never have even imagined, he said.

"If we speak of Operation Sindoor, it was indeed a striking demonstration of technology-driven warfare," Singh said.