Army Synergia Conclave to prepare for future conflicts

Bengaluru: It is generally said that militaries prepare to fight the last war. Bengaluru-based think-tank Synergia Foundation and the Indian Army’s Southern Command are partnering in a pathbreaking initiative – a three-day Southern Star Army Synergia Conclave -- to change this paradigm: to start thinking ahead what conflict in the future might be like and work backwards to prepare for it now, especially in terms of what technological capabilities the Army would need to procure.

While the return of Great Power competition, and thus the possibility of major wars, occupies the mind space of decision-makers, there are many levels and types of conflict today, and new ones emerging, that need to be prepared for. This has become especially urgent in view of the lessons gathered from the Russia-Ukraine war, the Hamas attack on Israel, and the effective maritime blockade that the Houthi militia was able to impose on global shipping in the Red Sea while being hundreds of miles away on land, using relatively inexpensive drones and missiles. 

“What will future conflicts be like? How do we align battle strategy? How might we fight the next war? Synergia Foundation has been thinking about the ‘Future of Conflict’ for over eight years now. All our research has been aimed at finding the answers to these questions. We are proud that the Indian Army recognises that we are able to contribute thought leadership on this and that it has allowed us to access its thought leadership on it,” Synergia Foundation founder and president Tobby Simon told DH on the sidelines of a curtain-raiser for the conclave on Tuesday. 

“The future of warfare is digital. We have to align offence and defence to this reality. As Army, we were making our own war plans. But national security is not a singular effort, it has to be a whole-of-nation approach. We should understand what future wars will be like and then only make our procurements. Southern India has the technology ecosystem,” Lt Gen Karan Brar, General Officer Commanding, Dakshin Bharat Area, said, “Synergia, as a think-tank, has brought together industry, R&D, start-ups for this purpose.”

“What has happened so far is that start-ups develop technologies, but do not know the use-cases for the military customer, so they don’t get business. Eventually, they find themselves forced to sell themselves and their IP. So, we have not been able to nurture an ecosystem for the start-ups, nor make available to the military the technologies they need. So, we thought it best to bring all sides in this – the Army, the start-ups, academia and R&D institutions, and MSMEs and industry – so that some early use-cases can be established for technologies being developed locally. That will make technology adoption easier for the military, the start-ups and industry get business and can sustain themselves and grow, and we can build that ecosystem,” explained Tobby Simon.

In an effort to be agile on technology acquisition, the Southern Command now has a budget to buy technologies as well as fund promising R&D as per its requirements.