Future conflicts will be “more violent” and “unpredictable”with technology, cyber domain playing a greater role, Chief of Army StaffGeneral Bipin Rawat on Saturday. He was speaking at seminar in New Delhi tomark the 20th year of the Kargil conflict.

“The military must be ready for a mutli-spectrum war. Therise of non-state actor and the rapid changes in technology is changing thenature of warfare. Cyber and space domain will increasingly play a bigger roleas the battle field become more contested and at the same time will beseamlessly connected,” General Rawat said drawing out the contours of futureconflicts.The Indian Army needs and is going through a transformation. “Theformation of the Space, Cyber and Special Forces divisions is indication of thetransformation that the armed forces are going through,” he said.

The cross border strikes after Uri Brigade Headquartersattack in 2016, and Balakot air strike after the Pulwama suicide bombing inFebruary this year not only demonstrate the political-military resolve but alsoanother indication of the changes, the army chief said.

In 1999, the intrusion by Pakistan Army was detected in theearly stages despite it being spread over 160 km across Kargil over a fewmonths, but General V P Malik, the Chief of Army Staff during the Kargilconflict ruled out intelligence failure.“There was no intelligence or evenassessment about Pakistan trying to carry out an operation,” the former Chiefstaff said in a candid admission at the seminar. As a result, for a long time,it was believed that the heights had been taken over by the Mujhahideen andtherefore the approach adopted to was that of counter insurgency,” GeneralMalik said.“We lacked surveillance equipment and depended mainly on the footpatrols,” General Malik said and added, “Unlike Siachen, there wasn’t muchawareness about the Kargil-Batalik sector. Winter clothing, special equipmentweren’t even authorized for the Kargil-Batalik sector.”

The Kargil conflict saw one of the greatest counterattacksin military history when the Indian army overcame heavy odds to recapturestrategic heights where Pakistani intruders had sneaked in and entrenchedthemselves firmly.