“The SSS mantra of Sense, Secure and Strike is the key for dominating electromagnetic spectrum”, says Lt Gen Vivek Dogra, SM, Signal Officer-in-Chief, Indian Army at DESCOM 2026 organised by PHDCCI

New Delhi, January 18, 2026: Addressing the Defence Electronics & Secure Communications Conference - DESCOM 2026 with the theme, “Dominance of Electromagnetic Spectrum”, being organised by PHDCCI , Chief Guest Vice Admiral Vineet McCarty, AVSM Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Policy Planning & Force Development) HQ IDS said,  “Modern warfare is undergoing a profound transformation driven by rapid advancement in digital technologies, autonomous systems, artificial intelligence and network and operations. And at the heart of this lies the Electromagnetic Spectrum that we all are talking about it today and this has emerged as a critical domain of warfare alongside the traditional domain of warfare that is land, air, sea, cyber and space”.
Electromagnetic Spectrum is no longer an enabler alone, they are the decisive factor for achieving the battlefield dominance as future conflicts become faster, more complex and more contested. Defence Forces must reassess their spectrum requirement to maintain operational superiority. Electronic Warfare was extensively employed during Operation Sindoor in jamming and gps spoofing. Superior electronic warfare capability can ensure success in future
Lt Gen Vivek Dogra, SM, Signal Officer-in-Chief & Colonel Commandant, Corps of Signals Indian Army, said Operation Sindoor has shown that there are no hinterland. The Electromagnetic Spectrum has erased borders, Soldiers on the frontline are trained,  however Common person, when exposed to modern electronic warfare capabilities, causes mass casualties During Operation Sindoor, Commercial technology having dual use has blurred the lines between civilian and military spectrums. The SSS mantra of Sense, Secure and Strike is the key for dominating electromagnetic spectrum
Talking about the indigenisation, he said we have to dominate, there are no two ways about it.  We need to reduce the gap between the Laboratory, production and the battle field. We are there with the industry, let’s sit together, put our heads down, act together so that the Nation’s head is always held high.
Dr. (Smt.) Chandrika Kaushik, Distinguished Scientist & Director General (PC & SI) Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said “Today’s battle fields are sensor saturated, electromagnetically conducted, data driven, AI enabled and increasingly multi domain. With the objective of equipping the Indian Armed Forces with the most advanced indigenised systems, she delivered a comprehensive presentation on “Building Indigenous Ecosystems for Electromagnetic Spectrum Supremacy.”
Ashok Atluri, Chair PHDCCI Defence & HLS Committee & CMD Zen Technologies in his welcome address said there’s no dearth of talent, competence as well as funding, all we need is the will to move ahead and design, develop and make in India, the techonogically advanced warfare systems. A lot of deep-tech funding has already been done via the new RDI (Research, Development and Innovation) Fund launched by GoI in Nov 2025
Col. K V Kuber, Indian Army Veteran and Director-Aerospace & Defence, Ernst and Young LLP delivered the theme address and reminded everyone that the greatest of electronic warfare fought in the world was at Kurukshetra. He beautifully co-related the ancient warfare with modern capability.
Rajiv Mehrotra, Founder & Chairman, Shyam VNL Pvt ltd., remarked, the technologies are changing fast and we can’t use 20th century equipments in 21st century. We need to phase-out equipments which are just sitting like a showpiece and replace them with domestically developed end-to-end solutions which are easily upgraded or replaced and are not costly
On this occasion, a Knowledge Report on “Dominance of Electromagnetic Spectrum”, jointly prepared by Sugosha Advisory & PHDCCI was also released.
The inaugural was followed by two important technical sessions on subjects “Next-Generation Defence Electronics, EW Superiority & Battlefield Digitalization” and  “Secure, AI - Driven & Quantum - Ready Military Communications for Network-Centric Operations” which saw the presence of govt officials and industrial leaders
Concluding remarks and vote of thanks was delivered by Vaibhav Gupta, Co-Chair, Defence & HLS Committee, PHDCCI and Director, MKU Ltd. The session was moderated by Dr. Nasir Jamal, Director, PHDCCI.