Lessons from the Ukraine War

Learning from the battlefield by the Indian Army on the Evolution and Effectiveness of Artillery in Modern Conflict

-  P.C. KATOCH

RUSSIA’S SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATIONS in Ukraine starting February 24, 2022, were the first large-scale act of aggression in Europe since World War II. The Ukraine war has brought many unexpected impacts and is different in many ways:

First, this is the first war between two global powers in the ‘modern’ era. The West terms it Russo-Ukrainian War but it actually is a US-led NATO war on Russia using Ukraine as proxy; having posed an existential threat to Russia that forced it to launch special military operations in Ukraine.

Second, it is a mix of 20th and 21st century warfare – hi-tech weaponry but holding the frontline as important as before.

Third, it has nixed the belief that technological advancements plus increased lethality and precision of weapons will force modern era wars to be short and swift.

Fourth, it reflects the changing character of war with high intensity multi-domain operations, heightened C4I2SR, employment of hitherto unseen AI-driven systems, hypersonic and advanced autonomous weapons inflicting unprecedented high level of casualties; necessitating changes in the methodology of warfighting.

Multi-Domain Operations 

The war in Ukraine is five dimensional, aerospace, land, sea, Cyber and Electro-Magnetic (EM). Information Warfare includes Network Centric Warfare, C4I2 Warfare, Electronic Warfare (EW), Cyber Warfare and all other forms of operationalised Cyber Space; like hypersonic missiles. Space Combat, Cyber Space Combat, Robotic Combat and Nano-technology Combat are added forms of combat.