Countries have to be ready for their own security: Navy chief Admiral Tripathi

NAvy chief full admiral Dinesh K Tripathi on fri said that world(a) conflicts feature raised questions well-nigh the existing notion of “short and decisive wars,” adding that countries need to stay prepared for challenges by building their own defence industrial complexes.“There is obviously a thought process that the post-Cold War peace dividend has certainly ended. Therefore, countries must be ready for their own national security, and that requires building their own defence industrial complexes,” Tripathi said at the 2026 Raisina Dialogue, a conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics held annually in New Delhi.He said most countries are following this approach in some way—either individually or through partnerships with other nations. Admiral Tripathi touched upon the pressing need to stay abreast of fast-evolving technology in the defence sector during a session themed “Forgers of Peace: Ordnance Factories for the Liberal Order.”“Not only must one produce [military equipment] at scale, but one must also be ready to upgrade while producing, because technology is changing at the speed of thought. We have seen the need for that and must be ready on that count,” he said, responding to a question on lessons learnt from military confrontations and industrial capacity requirements for modern warfare.“We have monitored global events, especially in the last three to four years, and what is loud and clear is that the idea of short and decisive wars may now face questions.” He said rapid adaptation is a must because time waits for no one, and surge capacity must be sufficient to deal with challenges.“It is not that you will be subjected to situations when your equipment is ready. Managing inventory is critical, and we need the capacity to surge when required. That requires very evolved defence industrial bases. These are some of the lessons learnt from what is happening around the world,” said Admiral Tripathi, who spoke at length about the need to achieve self-reliance in the current global scenario.“Whether it is the democratisation of dual-use technologies, monopolisation of resources, or weaponisation of supply chains, all these factors are forcing many countries toward self-reliance. We in India believe in Atmanirbharta [self-reliance], and like many other countries, we deal with many of our partner nations to develop capabilities in the defence sector based on co-development and co-production. We as a country are fully aware of how to work with many partners, and Russia is one of them,” he said, responding to a question on whether India’s military relationship with Russia was hindering deeper defence industrial cooperation with the US or Europe.