The Indian Army is observing the year 2024 as the ‘Year of Technology Absorption’. This theme underscores the Army’s steadfast focus on embracing technology to transform itself so as to keep ahead of adversaries in the context of the evolving character of warfare. The means and end in this regard are visualised under the umbrella of Atmanirbharta.
The absorption will be mainly in terms of disruptive technology (DT) comprising artificial intelligence, autonomous weapon systems such as drones, sensors, robotics, space technology, and hypersonic weapon systems. Several nations, led by the United States and China, have remarkable accomplishments in the field of DTs. The strategic competition and engagements in the future are going to be inevitably decided by the edge a nation possesses in absorbing these technologies.
In military parlance, absorption implies the acquisition, adaptation and integration of technologies into existing structures called legacy systems. These cover various nuances that are usually not apparent to the uninitiated. In addition, a few misnomers prevail vis-à-vis the absorption of DTs. Certain facets are enumerated below for a nuanced understanding of the issue.
