Working on designating 2026-27 as year of networking and data centricity: Army chief

New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) The Indian Army is working on designating 2026-27 as the "year of networking and data centricity", force chief General Upendra Dwivedi said on Tuesday, and flagged that this is one field in which "we are not prepared" and therefore, "need to act faster".

In his address at a seminar here, Gen Dwivedi also said that Operation Sindoor has given some lessons and "we came out as a winner", but the Army must always look at what are the lessons which have been drawn.

The Army has declared 2024-25 as the 'year of technology absorption', he said.

"So, moving ahead, we created 2026-27 now... of course, I am yet to announce this formally, but that is what we are working out -- year of networking and data centricity," the Army chief said.

"This is one field in which we are not prepared. We are aware, we discuss, but we are not prepared. Therefore, we need to act fast on this issue," he said.

"We of course have battlefield surveillance systems... then of course predictive analysis, open source analytics... A lot many things have come into play. But how are they being controlled? How are they being harmonised? That is something which we are still working on," he added.

The Army chief also made a reference to Operation Sindoor in his address.

"Operation Sindoor 1.0 has given us some lessons and we came out as a winner. But we must always look at what are the lessons we have drawn. And for Operation Sindoor 2.0 or any war for that matter, we should be able to kind of a harmonise these issues before we move ahead," Gen Dwivedi said.

India launched the military operation early on May 7 and decimated multiple terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

Pakistan also launched offensives against India, and all subsequent counter-offensives by India were carried out under Operation Sindoor.

The military conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours halted after they reached an understanding on the evening of May 10.

"As far as electronic warfare is concerned, it is a protection layer. It is a armoured protection layer, if I can say that. So, you have a reactive armour and other things as far as electronic warfare is concerned. This is also a protection layer, and it will have to be inherent in the platform which is being produced here after," he said. PTI KND ARI