On April 9 in Bengaluru, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, stated that India's environment necessitates a rapid transition towards Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) due to threats that disregard domain boundaries.
He emphasized that preparedness must be multi-domain from the outset, asserting that MDO is not a future option but a present necessity.
He delivered the keynote address at the second edition of "Ran Samwaad 2026," with the theme "Multi-Domain Operations: An Imperative for Addressing Conventional and Irregular Threats."
Dixit stated, "India's environment makes this transformation urgent – not aspirational. We face threats that do not respect domain boundaries."
He highlighted that along India's northern border, surveillance drones, satellite monitoring, electronic warfare, and rapid force mobilization coexist in a state of permanent readiness. In the maritime domain, sea lines of communication intersect with space-based surveillance, undersea competition, and carrier-based power projection.
According to him, the threat is evolving with each passing day on the western borders. Hybrid threats – misinformation campaigns, cyber intrusions targeting power grids, and drone swarms over sensitive installations – deliberately blur the line between peace and conflict.
He stated that these threats cannot be addressed by a single service; they require simultaneous, coordinated responses across domains.
Regarding the ongoing West Asia conflict, he emphasized that it serves as a sharp reminder that sea lane disruption, energy supply shocks, and regional instability can affect India's interests without direct targeting by a single adversary.
He reiterated that preparedness must be multi-domain from the outset, making MDO a present imperative.
Dixit clarified that multi-domain operations are not simply collaborative discussions between different services at conferences and meetings, nor are they adding a cyber annex to a service-specific plan. Instead, it involves thinking about interoperability from the start, focusing on systems rather than platforms, effects rather than service equities, and the speed of decision-making rather than tradition.
He added, "In short: MDO is not about what we own. It is about what we can do together – faster than the adversary."
Citing the Russia-Ukraine war, Air Marshal Dixit stated that the early stages of the conflict demonstrated how a smaller force – using commercial satellite imagery, space-based communications, secure digital networks, and precision fires – could impose disproportionate costs on a larger one.
He emphasized that the decisive factor was not any single weapon, but the integration of sensing, targeting, and strike into a coherent, real-time architecture. Conversely, forces that relied on centralised command nodes and exposed logistics proved deeply vulnerable. The lesson is that resilience and convergence are not optional – they are essential for survival.
He also mentioned the US-Israel air strikes on Iran, which began in earnest in February, as an instructive example of multi-domain operations.
He stated, "Consider what has been in play simultaneously: B-2 stealth bombers flying ultra-long-range strike missions; carrier strike groups providing sea-based air power; submarine operations in the Indian Ocean; Iranian retaliation using coordinated salvoes of ballistic missiles and drones striking across nine countries at once; and Iranian restrictions on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz – weaponising geography and economics as part of the same campaign."
He added, "No single domain has been decisive. Every domain is contested. The conflict has also demonstrated how quickly regional instability reaches our doorstep – an Iranian naval frigate was recently sunk barely forty nautical miles from Sri Lanka, in waters where India has vital interests. For us, this is not a distant spectacle. It is a strategic lesson delivered in real time."
Dixit pointed out that India's own experience with Operation Sindoor in May 2025 underscored the need for jointness, stating, "that jointness is the need of the hour. Integrated operations, coordinated across services and domains in real time, define the new standard. That lesson must now be embedded into how we train, how we equip, and how we fight."
Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, Atmanirbharta in defence is not just about making weapons in India, it is about controlling architectures – software, encryption, data standards, and upgrade cycles. "Without that control, we are dependent on others at the worst possible moments."
He added, "The record defence exports of nearly Rs 24,000 crore in 2024-25 and BrahMos missiles serving with friendly country tell us that Indian capability is recognised globally. We must build on that confidence at home."
Dixit also mentioned the proliferation of drone technology across modern battlefields, adding from Eastern Europe to West Asia, relatively low-cost unmanned systems – when integrated effectively – have changed the calculus of conflict.