Tzu ruminated over 2000 years ago that what matters in war is not decimating the enemy army physically but breaking his will so as to make him concede defeat in the mind , he seems to have visualized the domination of technology in the twentieth century theatres of war . The missile force coupled with the electronic warfare used in the Gulf War was a feast for military strategic experts . It acted as a curtainraiser for the twenty-first century war scenario with missiles and electronic and information warfare playing the lead roles .
In India , even today , the term technology , for most people , conjures up images of smoky steel mills or clanking machines . This is a rather inadequate conception of what technology denotes . The invention of the horse collar in the Middle Ages led to major changes in agricultural methods , and was as much a technological advance as the invention of the Bessemer furnace centuries later . Moreover , technology includes techniques as well as the machines that may or may not be necessary to apply them . It includes ways to make chemical reactions occur , ways to breed fish , eradicate weeds , light theatres , treat patients , teach history , fight wars , or even prevent them .
Today , most advanced technological processes are carried out far from assembly lines or open hearths . Indeed , in electronics , in space technology , in most of the new industries , relative silence and clean surroundings are characteristic , even essential . The assembly line , with the organization of armies of men , to carry out simple , routine functions is an anachronism . Our symbols of technology must change before we can keep pace with changes in technology itself . We should never forget that technology feeds on itself . Technology makes more technology possible . In fact , technological innovation consists of three stages linked together in a self-reinforcing cycle . First , there is the creative stage , with the blueprint of a feasible idea . This is made real by its practical application , and this finally ends in its diffusion through society . The process is then complete ; the loop is closed when the diffusion of technology embodying the new idea in its turn helps generate new creative ideas . Today , all over the developed world , the time gap between each of the steps in this cycle has been shortened . In India , we are just progressing towards that stage — closing the loop .
After the Gulf War concluded with the victory of the technologically superior Allied Forces , over 500 scientists of DRDL and RCI gathered to discuss issues that had emerged . I posed a question before the assembly : was technology or weapon symmetry with other nations feasible , and if so , should it be attempted ? The discussion led to many more serious questions , such as , how to establish effective electronic warfare support ? How to make missile development proceed apace with the development of equally necessary systems like the LCA ; and what were the key areas where a push would bring progress ?
At the end of a lively discussion spread over three hours , the consensus emerged that there was no way to redress asymmetry in military capability except to have the same capability in specific areas as your potential opponent . The scientists vowed to achieve a reduced CEP in the accuracy of Prithvi ’ s delivery , perfecting the Ka band guidance system for Trishul and realising all carbon-carbon re-entry control surfaces for Agni by the end of the year . The vow was later fulfilled . The year also saw tubelaunched Nag flights , and the manoeuvre of Trishul at seven metres above sea level , at speeds which exceeded three times the speed of sound . The latter was a breakthrough in the development