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The Defence Ministry will soon clear the creation of a new tri-service body to steer the armed forces’ strategic communication, with the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) in the final stages of firming up its structure and mandate.
The proposed entity, aimed at shaping “influence and legitimacy” in modern conflict, comes against the backdrop of recent scrutiny over India’s communication strategy during Operation Sindoor, despite the military achieving its operational objectives against Pakistan.
Announcing the move at the second edition of Ran Samwad, a tri-service seminar in Bengaluru, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan said the new body would provide unified guidance on messaging across the Army, Navy and Air Force.
“We are creating a new body to handle and guide holistic strategic communication for all three services. It is awaiting requisite sanctions and should be operational soon,” he said.
The initiative is part of a broader effort to prepare the Indian military for multi-domain operations (MDO), in which traditional battlefields are increasingly intertwined with the cyber, space, electromagnetic, and cognitive space of public opinion.
Officials indicated that the new structure will focus heavily on perception management and cognitive warfare, areas considered critical for countering adversarial propaganda and shaping narratives in real time. While it will coordinate communication across services, it is also expected to operate independently in the cognitive domain.
General Chauhan said the framework is already in an advanced stage of rollout across service networks, with plans to expand into cyber and space domains, as well as geospatial intelligence.
Significantly, the CDS revealed that nearly 15 per cent of the armed forces’ effort during Operation Sindoor was devoted to countering misinformation and disinformation, underscoring the growing centrality of information warfare in contemporary conflicts.
The proposed unit is expected to draw personnel not only from the military but also from the diplomatic and bureaucratic corps, as well as domain experts from media and emerging digital platforms, reflecting a whole-of-government approach to information operations.
Military planners view the move as a response to the changing character of warfare, where grey-zone tactics, ranging from propaganda and cyber operations to influence campaigns, are increasingly used to shape outcomes without triggering full-scale conflict.
India already has a Directorate of Strategic Communication (Strat Com) within the Army, Air Force, and Navy, established after the Kargil War, tasked with perception management.
A smaller vertical under the IDS has also been handling aspects of strategic messaging. The new body is expected to integrate and expand these efforts into a cohesive tri-service framework.
Ravi Shankar, Bengaluru
Dr Ravi Shankar has over two decades of experience in communications, print journalism, electronic media, documentary film making and new media.
He makes regular appearances on national television news channels as a commentator and analyst on current and political affairs. Apart from being an acknowledged Journalist, he has been a passionate newsroom manager bringing a wide range of journalistic experience from past associations with India’s leading media conglomerates (Times of India group and India Today group) and had led global news-gathering operations at world’s biggest multimedia news agency- ANI-Reuters. He has covered Parliament extensively over the past several years. Widely traveled, he has covered several summits as part of media delegation accompanying the Indian President, Vice President, Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister and Finance Minister across Asia, Africa and Europe.
