New Tech Can Erode Nuclear Deterrence Say Scientific Adviser

Making an important point on the changing face of war, Prof Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the government, today said ‘nuclear deterrence’ — a term used for countries possessing nuclear weapons — could be invalidated by newer technologies.

Prof Sood was chairing a session — ‘How emerging technology impacts defence and security’ — on the final day of the Chanakya Defence Dialogue, a flagship national security event organised by the Army and the Centre of Land Warfare Studies.

Prof Sood said major deterrence in modern geopolitical scenario had been nuclear. “Situation is changing. With newer technology, nuclear deterrence might not remain reliable,” he said, while listed the following latest technologies such as precision guided munitions, hypersonic weapons, decapitation attacks, space-based weapons and cyber & quantum technology.

He said these technologies “can cripple nuclear response mechanism and even the launch orders while nuclear codes can become vulnerable”.

“We need to be agile in adapting to technology. Even if we stand at same place, we will drown,” Prof Sood said.

Prof Mayank Vatysa from the IIT, Jodhpur, who works on face recognition technology, said ‘deep fakes’ on the Internet and ‘synthetic’ videos could cause a havoc. He cited the fake picture of Pentagon bombing that led to a stock market decline.

Dr Umamaheswaran R, former director of Human Space Flight Centre, Bangalore, said, “Space has emerged as the fourth frontier of war.”

Later, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane mentioned India’s achievements in the field of defence diplomacy. “We are the hub for military training. More than 5,000 personal have been trained from other countries, each year 100 military exercises with other nations are conducted and India has 12 military training missions in different countries,” he said.

Indian industry had been growing and several India companies were part of the global supply chain, said the Defence Secretary, adding that the exports were nearly worth $ 2 billion.

Former Deputy Chief of the Army Lt Gen Subrata Saha (Retd), said, “We have to make industry specialise in defence and space sector.”

Lt Gen Saha, a former member of National Security Advisory Board, said, “India should prepare to win future wars with Indian solutions.”

In his closing remarks, Army Chief General Manoj Pande spoke about India’s commitment in promoting regional stability. “Indo-Pacific remains central in the world’s strategic discourse,” he said.

Can Affect Response Mechanism

Prof Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the government, said new technologies “can cripple nuclear response mechanism and even the launch orders while nuclear codes can become vulnerable”