About Hybrid Warfare

• It combines conventional and unconventional methods, including military operations, cyber warfare, disinformation campaigns, and economic pressure. 
  • Example: China’s three warfare strategy including psychological, political and legal tactics, etc. 

Key Characteristics of Hybrid Warfare

• Obscurity: Makes it hard to identify the war threshold. 
• Vagueness: It complicates attribution and response as the target country is not able to either detect a hybrid attack or not able to attribute it to a state. 

Key reasons for their emergence

• Strategic Advantage: Helps achieve political or economic objectives without any declaration of war keeping the possibility of diplomatic negotiations open.
• Less Costly: It evades direct responsibility, and is logistically and economically less complex. 

Threats of Hybrid Warfare to India

• External Threats: Pakistan’s support for proxy forces, terrorist organisations and drug cartels threatening India’s security. 
• Internal Insurgencies: Naxalism in Central India, Ethnic conflicts in Northeast, etc. 
• Threat to Critical National Infrastructure: E.g. Cyberattacks on the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. 

Ways to tackle Hybrid Warfare

• Integrate Hybrid warfare into defence strategies: Overcoming natural disadvantages and leveraging India’s strengths. 
• Building resilience of armed personnels: To handle advanced technologies.