The Indian Army today paid formal tribute to the 1,171 martyrs of Operation Pawan at the National War Memorial, giving national recognition to that historic foreign military operation for the first time. Along with this, India signed important defense agreements with France for domestic manufacturing of ‘Hammer’ precision ammunition and with the French-German defense group for 155 mm ‘Katana’ precision artillery ammunition. At the strategy seminar held in Mhow, senior Army officers made it clear that future wars will be fought with cyber, space, drones and AI-based technologies and the Indian Army is fully prepared for these challenges.
If we look at it, the heroes of Operation Pawan were not given formal recognition for decades, but today the nation gave them the respect they truly deserved. The tribute paid by Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi and Vice Army Chief Lieutenant General Pushpendra Singh at the National War Memorial was not just a military formality, but a moral debt-extradition from the Republic of India, which was pending since 1987. This festival of remembrance is not just a memory of the past, but a message for the future that when an Indian soldier sacrifices his life for the honor of the nation, the country will not let that sacrifice be forgotten.
Read this also: CDS Anil Chauhan exposes self-reliance and indigenization in domestic defense industry sector
Let us tell you that Operation Pawan, started in October 1987, was not just a military action, it was a test of India’s strategic capability. The Indian Army was sent to Sri Lanka, torn by the Tamil conflict, to disarm LTTE and other armed groups and restore peace there. But no Indian soldier had even imagined the actual nature of this deployment. LTTE was no ordinary rebel group. They had sophisticated weapons. He was unmatched in guerrilla warfare. Explosives, landmines, suicide squads, their tactics were extremely cruel and cunning. Sri Lanka’s geography, dense forests, marshy lands and narrow roads made the war more difficult. In this extremely hostile environment the Indian Army carried out what is considered to be one of the most difficult operations in the history of modern guerrilla warfare. During that period, 1,171 Indian soldiers were martyred and more than 3,500 were injured.
Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran received the Param Vir Chakra by killing six armed terrorists in his last moments. 98 Veer Chakras, 25 Shaurya Chakras and hundreds of other gallantry decorations proved that Indian soldiers were no less than anyone on the battlefield, but the memory of this campaign in India remained a ‘forgotten war’ for decades. Today when the Army officially paid tribute to the heroes of Operation Pawan, it is not just an honor but a message that the nation will never forget the bravery of any Indian soldier, whether he fights on the border or on foreign soil. Lieutenant General Pushpendra Singh himself was seriously injured in the same operation in 1989; His presence at the memorial today was that moment in history in which a warrior was saluting his martyred brothers. This scene has become an immortal chapter in the glory story of the Indian Army.
On the other hand, if we talk about ‘Hammer’ and ‘Katana’ agreements, then let us tell you that India is no longer just a defense purchasing nation but is also becoming an emerging superpower center of defense production. Hammer Precision Guided Munition is capable of destroying enemy bunkers located up to 70 km away with precision. It is fully compatible not only with Rafale but also with light fighter aircraft like Tejas. Its extremely high accuracy, proven performance in combat make it the strongest weapon against the enemies. BEL-Safron JV will open the way for its manufacturing in India, the impact of which will increase the firepower of the Air Force manifold in the coming years.
Talking about Katana 155 mm precision artillery ammunition, it can hit targets at long distances. Equipped with GNSS + IMU based hybrid guidance. Its future version will give ‘metric-level’ accuracy from the laser seeker. It is ideal for ‘surgical’ artillery strikes in densely populated areas. Also, this agreement between SMPP and KNDS will strengthen India’s self-reliant artillery capability, especially at a time when the Indian Army is in urgent need of 155 mm ammunition.
On the other hand, what Lieutenant General Sahi said at the strategy seminar in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, is not just a warning but a military outline for the future. He said that the war of 2035 will be one in which drone swarms will cover the skies, cyber attacks will disable the enemy’s command system, satellites will expose every enemy activity in real time and artificial intelligence will take the speed of target selection and attack many times beyond human capability.
If seen, China is already moving towards ‘intelligent warfare’. Pakistan will not desist from the strategy of hybrid war, terrorism and nuclear blackmail. In such a time, only India’s aggressive, quick and accurate response will become the basis of its security. The recent Operation Sindoor is a recent example of this approach—where speed, accuracy and tactical surprise capability disrupted enemy plans in a matter of hours.
However, the combination of bravery of the past + scientific power of the present is the invincible India of the future. Today’s India is not what it was in the 1980s or 1990s. Today we are honoring the heroes of Operation Pawan, indigenously manufacturing state-of-the-art weapons and preparing for the war system of 2035 by understanding it from a strategic point of view. If seen, the Indian Army does not just protect the earth, it creates history, creates the future and in the present gives a message to the enemies that India is invincible and will remain invincible.