Addressing the changed operational scenario following Operation Sindoor, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday said a smart, short and decisive use of force, should be a preferred option over a long-attrition slugfest.He was speaking at the ongoing three-week ‘Future Warfare Course’ to train military officers on how technology was impacting war fighting and understand the need to align the needs of the forces with domestic production of weapons and equipment.The CDS said that punitive, strategic and dissuasive deterrence must co-exist. He also highlighted the need to integrate older concepts with the new ones and understand the impact of geopolitics and geo-economics on modern day conflicts. He compared war in traditional domains with war in new domains, its impact and need for preparation.Although he stressed the need for multiple response options to counter the adversary, he asserted that conventional capabilities continued to be relevant. He cited the geopolitical churn, weaponised trade and AI disruptions in the current era to explain how wars would be shaped by geo-economics, decided by technology and fought across land, cyber and cognitive domains.The CDS also exhorted the course participants to rethink deterrence and visualise.The course saw participants from the three services, as well as representatives from the defence industry, including startups, MSMEs, defence public sector undertaking and the private industry. Among the services participants, the seniority of the officers varied from Majors to Major Generals (and their equivalents), with the junior officers bringing their technical flair and expertise and the senior officers their operational experience and strategic knowledge.The three-week course from February 2 to February 25 is being held at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi. It aims to cover domain-specific warfare developments in military operations. This is the third-edition of the ‘warfare course’ and the first such event since Operation Sindoor when new technologies like drones were used in large numbers.It will aim to arrive at an erudite understanding on how war fighting is being impacted by technology, necessitating a relook at thinking, concepts, doctrines and strategies.A diverse range of experts, including veterans, serving officers, ex-ambassadors, industry experts and academic professionals, will ensure that a holistic analysis of India’s security challenges are debated. Additionally, experts in subjects like critical and rare earth elements, supply chain vulnerabilities and regional and global geopolitics impinging on operations in the future, expanding the number of subjects that will need to be studied and analysed by the Defence Forces in order to plan and conduct operations in the future.It is being hosted by the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff, under the Chief of Defence Staff, in partnership with the think tank, Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS).