Air Marshal Dixit Redefines Warfare Boundaries, Stresses Need for Extended Surveillance

By A Staff Reporter

New Delhi, June 11 — In a significant assessment of evolving warfare dynamics, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit of the Indian Air Force emphasized the obsolescence of traditional combat concepts and the urgent need to expand India’s surveillance capabilities to meet modern threats.

Speaking at a defence symposium in the capital, Air Marshal Dixit noted that advancements in long-range precision weapons have fundamentally transformed the nature of battlefields. “When weapons can strike targets hundreds of kilometres away with pinpoint accuracy, the traditional concepts of front, rear and flanks, combat zones, and depth areas—all become irrelevant,” he stated.

He explained that in today’s warfare, the "front" is no longer a fixed line but a fluid and integrated space. “What we call the front of the theatre merges into one,” he added, signaling a shift towards continuous and omnidirectional threat awareness.

Highlighting the strategic implications of this transformation, Dixit urged for a major overhaul in India’s military surveillance doctrine. “This new reality demands that we extend our surveillance envelope far beyond what previous generations could have even imagined,” he asserted.