Militaries have to be powerful enough to deter war: Principal Adviser, MoD

New Delhi: Militaries have to be powerful enough to deter war, Principal Adviser, Ministry of Defence, Lt Gen (retd) Vinod G Khandare said on Friday.

He was speaking during a panel discussion on ‘Evolution of Indian Military Systems, Warfighting and Strategic Thought- Current Research in the Field and Way Forward’ organised by the Army in collaboration with the United Service Institution of India (USI), under Project Udbhav.

“The wisdom was, you will not get into a war, unless it is inevitable. Militaries have to be powerful enough to deter war. People mistake by saying that we are to do warfighting. We are there to deter war, from strength, and strength comes from multiple sources whether it is from conventional capability, unconventional capability, from diplomacy, from economics, from everything possible,” Khandare said.

Project Udbhav is an initiative set in motion by the Indian Army to “rediscover the profound Indic heritage of statecraft and strategic thoughts derived from ancient Indian texts of statecraft, warcraft, diplomacy and grand strategy,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The project endeavours to explore India’s rich historical narratives in the realms of statecraft and strategic thoughts. It focuses on a broad spectrum including indigenous military systems, historical texts, regional texts and kingdoms, thematic studies, and intricate Kautilya studies, it said.

The discussion was chaired by Lt Gen (retd) Khandare. The panelists included scholars, veterans and serving officers who have made immense contribution in this field.

Khandare also mentioned about the statecraft, warcraft and diplomacy used by Maratha King Chhattrapati Shivaji to tackle his adversaries.