Looking into the future: Science and Tech need major transformation and freedom to experiment . World is changing at a very fast rate.

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It is clear that the next war or world war if you may like to use that term will not be fought using traditional warfare but by using sophisticated technologically superior artefacts that may come up on the horizon soon after being tested in various secret laboratories across the world.

Countries like China and Russia are already on work in such endeavour and may surprise the democratic world of US , Europe and Asian countries. Pakistan may benefit from such new strategic warfare being hands in glove with China.

We have to be more than prepared for any such new tactics which all begins with Sc and Tech and ends with it.

Are we raising false alarm? We don’t think so. ! Research papers in this direction convincingly points to this changing paradigm. One such paper states that , “besides Robotics, another seven categories of technology would likely witness high change—chemical sensors, biological sensors, radio communications, laser communications, radio-frequency weapons, nonlethal weapons, and biological weapons.”

Two more areas that can be added to these new modern warfare will be Drones and Cyber warfare.

The paper predicts that technological change of relevance to military innovation may be faster and more consequential in the next 20 years than it has proven to be over the last 20. Notably, it is entirely possible that the ongoing, rapid pace of computer innovation may make the next two decades more revolutionary than the last two. The dynamics in robotics and in cybersecurity discussed here may only intensify. They may be more fully exploited by modern military organizations.

They will likely extend in important ways into the artificial intelligence (AI) realm as well. At least, an examination of the last 20 years would seem to suggest the potential for such an acceleration. That is particularly true in light of the fact that multiple countries (most notably China, but also Russia) now have the resources to compete with Western nations in military innovation. Some other areas of technology, perhaps most notably directed energy systems, hypersonic missiles, and certain types of advanced materials, could play important supplemental roles in making the next two decades a true period of military revolution, or at least of very fast and ongoing rapid transformation.

The study categorises the emerging warfare into four categories. The first is , Sensors of many different types, which gather data of relevance to military operations. The second comprises the Computer and communications that process and distribute that data. Third are major weapons platforms and key enabling technologies for those platforms. Fourth are other types of weapons systems and other technologies, many relatively new.

Thus the computers and communications category will include: offensive cyber capabilities, systemic or “internet of things” networking, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence and big data. Then there are areas within the projectiles, propulsion, and platforms category—battery-powered engines and satellites, while some other can be within the chemical weapons, nano materials, 3D printing, and human enhancement devices as well as substances.

Conclusion

This is a lengthy discussion. The point that we wish to stress is that the government cannot remain mute to the developments happening elsewhere. We are as much safe as we can narrow the technological gap between ourselves and other developed countries. China still has vast technological advantages over us. And to be sure it is using all of them on the borders with sophisticated drones, to build technologies for air power and other things. Not only this , it is also helping Pakistan for the same.

While research organizations like DRDO, and ministry of Sc and tech are doing their bit it may seem in retrospect that they may not be sufficient to overcome the challenges that we are facing and may face ahead. We need a very advanced visionary approach for this new warfare that is coming to us very fast. If we fail to anticipate and predict this technological game and speed up our efforts in the right direction, we may lose this game very well. The govt has to look into such futuristic technologies and scenario and device suitable planning and implementation for the same.

Dr Asheesh Shah
Samanvaya
Http://www.samanvaya.org.in

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