Prague. The Battlefield of the Future is unlikely to resemble the battlefields of the past. The transformation is already underway, visible in the transformation in wars and conflicts in Europe, Middle East and elsewhere.
These conflicts have demonstrated how rapidly warfare is being reshaped by Unmanned Systems, Precision Weapons, Electronic Warfare, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Platforms, Cyber Capabilities, Resilient Communications, autonomous and increasingly sophisticated Sensors. The traditional distinction between Sea, Land, Air, Missiles (SLAM) and Space and Cyber domains is steadily disappearing.
It is against this backdrop that the Future Forces Forum 2026, being held from October 21 to 23 at PVA EXPO in the capital of Czech Republic. The Forum brings together defence forces, governments, technology companies, research institutions and industry to examine and define the emerging technologies and operational concepts that will define tomorrow’s security architecture.
Significantly, the event will also host NATO working-group meetings from October 19.
India’s Visible Presence
India will have a visible presence at Future Forces 2026 with an India Pavilion featuring Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Kusumgar Limited, Munitions India Limited, and Yantra India Limited.
India’s participation comes at a time when the country’s defence industry is moving from an era dominated by import dependence towards one in which India-designed, developed and manufactured weapons and systems are steadily entering the foreign markets, even in the US and Europe.
The Indian Ministry of defence, MOD, is setting up the India Pavilion in collaboration with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry and Engineering Export Promotion Council, EEPC. State-run defence Public Sector Companies, DPSUs, and a number of private sector companies are set to take part to showcase the formidable rise of the country’s defence industrial base.
BEL, which makes formidable Electronic Warfare, Missile Systems, Avionics, Naval Systems, Cyber Security systems, Electro-optics, and even Electronic Voting Machines, is a lead participant at the Show.
Then there is Munitions India Limited, MIL, which makes powerful explosives for Artillery, Tanks, Mortars, Rockets, Aerial Bombs, and even Hand Grenades. Weapons made by MIL have been used over the years on the borders, including in Operation Sindoor.
One highly successful weapon made by MIL is the Pinaka, a DRDO-developed Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher, MBRL, that can devastate small concentrations of enemy forces with 12 High Explosive, HE, bombs in 44 seconds.
It’s a light Shoot-and-Scoot system, quickly changes its firing positions to avoid hostile retaliation, and then fires again.
Another DPSU at the Show will be Yantra India Limited, YIL. It makes 155 mm HE shells for the formidable Swedish Bofors, which won India the 1999 Kargil War. One of the best globally advanced artillery systems, Bofors had come with full Transfer of Technology, TOT, to be produced indigenously, in a 1986 deal, It is now being Made in India as Dhanush.
Bofors saturates enemy positions with precise fire. In fact, even the Pakistanis said they suffered disproportionate and heavy casualties after the Indian Army deployed Bofors in the high Kargil mountains. “We lost mainly due to the Bofors, and also precise bombings by the Indian Air Force,” a Pakistani minister had said.
Capabilities Shift from Imports to Exports
The central question for defence establishments today is no longer simply what weapons should be procured, but what kind of force will be required when Technology, Information and Speed increasingly determine a battlefield.
It’s a critical question for India.
Indian companies have a free hand now to innovate, collaborate and produce more and more of sophisticated warfare and defence technologies.
The Future Forces Conference will examine questions about the rapidly emerging technologies. Multi-domain operations, future conflicts and the changing operational environment will be in focus. Future Command and Control concepts and systems, Land Forces, Cyber Defence, Disruptive Technologies, Space, Chemical and Nuclear threats, CBRN, Military Medicine and civil-security resilience will be there.
On the sidelines, there should be opportunities for business deals. That’s why the Indian MoD has encouraged Indian manufacturers to participate in the Show.
Another big Indian DPSU slated to take part is Bharat Dynmics Limited, BDL, which makes Guided Missiles, Surface-to-Air and Air-to-Air missiles, Underwater Weapons.
BDL’s Akash Surface-to-Air Missiles SAMs, effectively destroyed Pakistani missiles and drones during Operation Sindoor. It is already on Export list.
Other Indian companies taking part will be the private sector Kusumgar Limited, Parveen Industries, and Entremonde Polycoaters Limited.
Kusumgar and Entremonde make specialized Technical Textiles and Engineering Synthetic Fabrics.
Parveen produces Certified Equipment and Tools for global Oil and Gas industry.
Future Forces, Firepower, Technologies and Beyond
The idea of the Future Forces is itself undergoing a fundamental change.
A modern military formation may increasingly consist of a combination of manned and unmanned platforms, autonomous systems, networked sensors, precision munitions, electronic-warfare assets and software-defined command networks.
A relatively inexpensive unmanned system can not only provide surveillance or targeting information, but also attack a much bigger target to destroy it.
Artificial intelligence, AI, can help commanders process enormous quantities of battlefield data. EW can disrupt an adversary’s communications and navigation, while cyber capabilities can attack infrastructure without any conventional kinetic strike. Information Superiority will be in focus at the Show.
India Strategic, the India Media Partner at the FFF 2026, extends Best Wishes to All the Indian Participants.
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