Future warfare will not be confined to borders, it will impact civilians a lot more: Lieutenant General Deependra Singh Hooda | India News

NEW DELHI: Emerging warfare technologies like long-range missile systems, drones and cyberattacks ensure that larger portions of the civilian population will be impacted by war than ever before, Lieutenant General Deependra Singh Hooda (retd.), former general officer commanding-in-chief, Army’s Northern Command, said on Monday.
“What we need to understand when we talk about future war is that it will not be something that only happens at the borders and that only uniformed people have to fight, it is something that will impact every civilian,” said Hooda.
Speaking at the Times of India’s ‘Right To Excellence – Tech Summit’, Hooda said technology and warfare have always had a close link.
“Anytime you get a new technology, it transforms the character of warfare,” he said, adding: “The technologies we are seeing today, which we are calling the fourth generation of tech, are also impacting how future wars will be fought.”

Talking about how future warfare will impact civilians, the former Lt. Gen. said: “In India, a majority of civilians have never significantly felt the impact of wars fought by the Army, but this will change drastically due to emerging technologies.”
“We have long range missile systems and mass usage of drones. So, civilian population will not be safe. In Ukraine, we have seen mass displacement of the civilian population. Nearly 25% of the population have had to leave their homes,” he added.
“Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure such as the power grid and railways will severely impact the life of the common man,” the former Lt. Gen. said, adding: “Information warfare will also impact civilians as enemies try to sow division and distrust among populations and communities.”
Hooda also talked about the democritisation of destruction, the dual-use nature of accessible and affordable technology. “We are seeing readily available civilian technologies being used for destruction such as drones,” he added.
Artificial Intelligence
With the emergence of Artificial Intelligence and incorporation in drones and other weapons systems, Hooda said there is debate in the military over the ethical use of AI.
“We have autonomous systems in drones where there is very little human intervention. And now you have AI that is built in. How much autonomy are we going to give these systems? Are we going to take humans out of the loop and allow machines to target humans? And is allowing human intervention not letting us utilise the full potential of AI? these are some of the questions facing us today,” said Hooda.