Land Warfare and its Future ‘Avatar’

‘The Avatar is the one that holds the balance of them together until he disappears. When that happens, peace is lost and war becomes the common theme among the nations.’

– Avatar: The Last Airbender

WAR?? They questioned.

WAR!! They exclaimed in horror.

The term war generates ghastly images of death, destruction, devastation and despair.

Fighter jets strafing targets on the ground, bombers dropping their deathly loads from thousands of meters above on unsuspecting populations below; big guns of naval ships booming and launching projectiles at other ships or targets on land, submarines prowling the deep waters to target the enemy aircraft carrier; tanks growling at neck breaking speeds maneuvering a pincer to trap the enemy; artillery raining destruction on the enemy unrelentingly; and finally that Infantry soldier waiting to evict the enemy entrenched in his fortified emplacements to seize victory which he has measured by his feet.

Will a future war be different? Will it not entail death and destruction? Will the ‘nature of war’ change with the induction of technology and Artificial Intelligence? Will it replace the soldier partially or wholly? Will diplomacy and soft power be the order of the day?

Think tank’s and academics are quick to extrapolate from contemporary situations and arrive at conclusions which are fit only for academic discussion and debate. On ground the realities cannot change radically due to constraints and bindings of all sorts. A new weapon or equipment has a long gestation period from the drawing board to the assembly line. Upgrading or modernising a large military force cannot be undertaken in a short time-frame.

Take the case of a military aircraft be it a fighter, ground attack aircraft, multi-role combat aircraft, bomber, transport aircraft or even a helicopter. They continue to be in service long after their pilots who flew them have retired and gone into the world beyond. It is the same for tanks, artillery guns, multi-barrel rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles, shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles and small arms of the Infantry. Each weapon and weapon system from visualisation to conception…