Military Leaders Discuss Future Of Warfare, Artillery At Seminar In Chandigarh

Chandigarh, Sep 20 (PTI) The 4th edition of the General S F Rodrigues memorial seminar brought together senior military leaders, veterans, representatives of the defence industry, academia and domain experts to discuss the evolving nature of warfare and the future of artillery.

The annual seminar, instituted in memory of General S F Rodrigues, former chief of the army staff, was organised by the Regiment of Artillery, Indian Army, in collaboration with the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) in Chandigarh on Saturday.

The seminar commenced with a tribute to General S F Rodrigues, former Chief of the Army Staff, whose contributions to military modernisation and forward-looking approach remain relevant to the Indian Army. He served as the 15th chief of the army staff from 1990 to 1993 and later as the governor of Punjab from 2004 to 2010.

The theme for this year's seminar was "Asymmetric Capability through Networked Precision Fires by Artillery." Discussions centred on lessons learned from global conflicts and emerging trends in asymmetric military capabilities. The importance of automation and decision superiority in Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) was also highlighted.

Key topics included precision engagement capabilities, long-range fires, and the development of a seamless network capable of delivering rapid, accurate, and decisive effects across the battlefield, an official statement said on Sunday.

Delivering the opening address, Lt Gen Anoop Shinghal, Director General Artillery, emphasised that the future effectiveness of artillery would increasingly depend not merely upon the range or calibre of individual weapon systems, but upon the ability to network sensors, shooters and decision-makers across domains.

Integration of guns, rockets and missiles with unmanned aerial systems, battlefield surveillance systems, satellite and aerial intelligence, precision target-acquisition systems and resilient command-and-control networks would enable the generation of disproportionate combat effects against an adversary.

The deliberations examined the concept of asymmetry in firepower, wherein technological integration, precision, reach, responsiveness and information superiority can enable comparatively smaller forces to impose disproportionate costs on an adversary.

A key focus of the seminar was the development of a seamless sensor-to-shooter architecture. The seminar also deliberated upon the increasing convergence of artillery, unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, electronic warfare, communications and precision-guided munitions.

Emerging technologies including AI-enabled target recognition and decision-support tools, autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, secure battlefield networks, resilient positioning, navigation and timing solutions and collaborative employment of unmanned platforms were discussed as important constituents of the future fires architecture.

The discussions concluded that future battlefields would favour forces capable of seeing farther, deciding faster, striking precisely, and surviving longer.

Networked precision fires would therefore represent much more than an enhancement of traditional artillery capability; they would constitute an integrated combat architecture capable of creating operational asymmetry through the convergence of information, technology and firepower, the statement said.

In his closing remarks, Lt Gen Pushpendra Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Army's Western Command, observed that the Regiment of Artillery is undergoing a comprehensive transformation driven by enhanced ranges, precision, AI, automation, persistent surveillance and networking.

He emphasised the need to continuously evolve doctrines, technologies, organisations and training methodologies to ensure that Indian Artillery remains capable of delivering responsive, precise and decisive fires across the entire depth of the battlefield.

The Gen SF Rodrigues Memorial Seminar 2026 concluded with a shared recognition that future advantage in artillery would lie not merely in possessing more firepower, but in the ability to achieve asymmetry by connecting sensors with appropriate shooters, transform information into targeting solutions at speed and deliver precision effects at the time and place of decision.