Software Edge in the New Age

On September 11, 2001, the world recoiled in horror as commercial airliners, transformed into weapons of terror, struck the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

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The audacity of using civilian aircraft to paralyse the most powerful nation on Earth was unthinkable until it happened. Now, imagine a scenario where such devastation is orchestrated not by suicidal hijackers but by hackers seizing remote control of aircraft systems. This is no longer a distant dystopian fantasy but a tangible threat, as Col Pavithran Rajan articulates in his prescient article, Visualising the AI Battle-A Realist Perspective.

The Mossad's audacious pager attack on Hezbollah and the Chinese hacking of Mumbai's electrical grid in 2020 demonstrate the potential for coordinated cyber-attacks. In the context of India and Pakistan, such asymmetric tactics could tip the scales. Operation Sindoor revealed China's role not only as a supplier of military hardware but also as a provider of electronic cover, jamming Indian communications and anticipating troop movements.