Joining forces

Civil-Military Fusion as a Metric of National Power and Comp- rehensive Security by Lt Gen (Retd) Raj Shukla calls for synergising innovation between the armed forces, corporations, academia and technological institutions

- Suyash Desai

For decades, the civil and military components of India’s strategic policy have operated in silos.

Whether due to bureaucratic inertia, a fear that society may become unduly militarised, a lack of political will, or a recalcitrance in this sphere towards innovation, India has been unable to develop a comprehensive defence ecosystem or transfer civilian innovation to defence applications. The People’s Republic of China (PRC), meanwhile, has moved in the opposite direction over the past 40 years, not just blurring these watertight compartments but institutionalising civilian innovation and industry capacity at scale to generate strategic military advantage.

Given the nature of direct competition in the Indo-Pacific, India urgently needs to fast-track incremental reforms and rethink the separation between civilian and military spheres on the innovation front.

This is where Lt Gen (Retd) Raj Shukla’s latest book, Civil-Military Fusion as a Metric of National Power and Comprehensive Security, is a timely, necessary intervention, and much-needed contribution to strategic debate.

As a former commander with over four decades of experience across operational, ideational and training verticals in the Indian Army, Shukla benefits from a rare insider understanding of how decisions are made and how policies are shaped within the Indian armed forces.