On 30 August 2026, the fourth edition of the Tri-Services Future Warfare Course concluded after four weeks at the Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi. It was conducted under the aegis of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) and coordinated by the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS).
The course brought together officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force alongside representatives of government organisations, academia, industry and strategic think tanks. Chief of Defence Staff General NS Raja Subramani interacted with participants; certificates were presented by Chief of Integrated Defence Staff Air Marshal Tejinder Singh, and a PG Diploma in Future Warfare was conferred by Lt Gen SS Mahal (Retd), Managing Director of the Defence Research and Innovation Foundation at IIT Ropar. The fifth edition runs 16 November to 11 December 2026.
Why a course is news
A training programme concluding is not, on its face, a headline. It is worth attention here for one reason: the curriculum is a statement of what the Indian military believes the next war will look like, and that is more informative than most announcements about equipment.
The syllabus, as listed: geopolitical developments, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, cyber and cognitive warfare, information warfare, autonomous systems, future operations across land, maritime, air and space domains, grey-zone operations, multi-domain operations and technology-enabled warfare. Delivery included lectures, brainstorming, scenario-building exercises, cognitive warfare simulations, field visits and participant-led presentations.
Three terms in that list carry real content and are examinable.
Multi-domain operations. The proposition that land, sea, air, space and cyber are no longer separate theatres coordinated after the fact, but a single operating space in which effects in one domain are planned to create advantage in another — a cyber operation opening a window for an air strike, a space-based sensor cueing a naval engagement. The demand it places on a military is integration, which is why this sits under HQ IDS rather than any single service.
Grey-zone operations. Coercive activity deliberately pitched below the threshold of armed conflict — economic pressure, disinformation, cyber intrusion, proxy forces, salami-slicing of territory, and the use of nominally civilian actors. Its defining feature is ambiguity: it is calibrated so that the target cannot easily justify a conventional military response, and often cannot even attribute the action confidently. The military problem is that the tools designed for war are the wrong tools, while the tools of peace are insufficient.
Cognitive warfare. Operations targeting how a population or a decision-maker thinks — perception, morale, trust in institutions, and the coherence of the decision cycle itself. It is distinct from information warfare, which concerns the content and flow of information; cognitive warfare concerns the effect on the mind receiving it. That the course ran cognitive warfare simulations is a notable detail: it treats the contest for perception as something to be rehearsed, not merely discussed.
The institutional map, which is what gets examined
Candidates confuse these bodies constantly, so fix them as a set.
| Body / post | What it is |
|---|---|
| Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) | The three service chiefs collectively; the CDS is its permanent Chairman |
| Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) | Created 2019; single-point military adviser to the government; heads the Department of Military Affairs; permanent Chairman COSC. Currently General NS Raja Subramani |
| Department of Military Affairs (DMA) | Created 2019 within the Ministry of Defence, headed by the CDS |
| HQ Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) | Created 2001, following the Kargil Review Committee and the Group of Ministers report; the tri-service staff organisation |
| Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman COSC (CISC) | Heads HQ IDS. Currently Air Marshal Tejinder Singh |
| CENJOWS | Centre for Joint Warfare Studies — the think tank on joint warfare that coordinated this course |
The chronology matters: HQ IDS came in 2001, nearly two decades before the CDS in 2019. India built the joint staff first and the joint commander later — which is the reverse of the usual sequence, and explains why the jointness agenda has been institutional before it was operational.
The tri-service commands to name alongside: the Andaman and Nicobar Command (Port Blair), the Strategic Forces Command, and the newer Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency and Armed Forces Special Operations Division. The larger project under discussion — theatre commands, reorganising forces by geography rather than by service — is the operational end of the same agenda, and this course is its educational end. Officers who will command integrated formations must first be taught to think across services, which is precisely what a tri-service course exists to do.
One naming note worth carrying: the Manekshaw Centre is named after Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, Chief of the Army Staff during the 1971 war and the first Indian officer promoted to Field Marshal. India has had only two Field Marshals — Manekshaw and K.M. Cariappa — a fact asked in its own right, and part of the institutional knowledge the NDA general knowledge syllabus tests.
🔑 Revision block
The event. 30 August 2026 — the 4th Tri-Services Future Warfare Course concluded after four weeks at the Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi, under HQ IDS, coordinated by CENJOWS. CDS General NS Raja Subramani interacted with participants; certificates from CISC Air Marshal Tejinder Singh; PG Diploma in Future Warfare presented by Lt Gen SS Mahal (Retd), Defence Research and Innovation Foundation, IIT Ropar. 5th edition: 16 November – 11 December 2026.
The curriculum — a statement of the expected next war. Geopolitics · AI · quantum · cyber and cognitive warfare · information warfare · autonomous systems · land, maritime, air and space domains · grey-zone operations · multi-domain operations. Methods included scenario-building and cognitive warfare simulations.
Multi-domain operations. Land, sea, air, space and cyber as a single operating space, where effects in one domain create advantage in another. Demands integration — hence HQ IDS.
Grey-zone operations. Coercion deliberately kept below the threshold of armed conflict — economic pressure, disinformation, cyber intrusion, proxies, salami-slicing. Defining feature is ambiguity: hard to attribute, hard to justify a conventional response to.
Cognitive warfare versus information warfare. Information warfare concerns the content and flow of information; cognitive warfare targets how the recipient thinks — perception, morale, trust and the decision cycle.
The institutions. COSC — the three chiefs collectively; CDS is permanent Chairman. CDS — created 2019, single-point military adviser, heads the Department of Military Affairs. HQ IDS — created 2001 after the Kargil Review Committee and the Group of Ministers report. CISC — heads HQ IDS. CENJOWS — joint warfare think tank.
The chronology point. HQ IDS (2001) came before the CDS (2019) — India built the joint staff first and the joint commander later.
Tri-service organisations. Andaman and Nicobar Command (Port Blair) · Strategic Forces Command · Defence Cyber Agency · Defence Space Agency · Armed Forces Special Operations Division. Theatre commands are the operational end of the same jointness agenda.
The venue's name. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw — COAS in the 1971 war, first Indian Field Marshal. India has had only two: Manekshaw and K.M. Cariappa.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The Tri-Services Future Warfare Course is conducted under the aegis of: (a) HQ Integrated Defence Staff (b) the Army Training Command (c) the National Defence College (d) DRDO → (a), coordinated by CENJOWS.
Q2. Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff was created in: (a) 2001 (b) 2019 (c) 1999 (d) 2021 → (a) — following the Kargil Review Committee.
Q3. The post of Chief of Defence Staff was created in: (a) 2019 (b) 2001 (c) 2015 (d) 2020 → (a).
Q4. The CDS heads which department in the Ministry of Defence? (a) Department of Military Affairs (b) Department of Defence Production (c) Department of Defence (d) Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare → (a).
Q5. 'Grey-zone operations' refers to activity that is: (a) coercive but below the threshold of armed conflict (b) conducted at night (c) limited to cyberspace (d) purely humanitarian → (a).
Q6. Cognitive warfare is distinguished from information warfare in that it targets: (a) how the recipient thinks (b) the content of messages only (c) physical communication networks (d) satellite systems → (a).
Q7. CISC stands for: (a) Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (b) Chief of Indian Services Command (c) Central Integrated Security Committee (d) Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Command → (a).
Q8. The Manekshaw Centre is named after an officer who was Chief of the Army Staff during the: (a) 1971 war (b) 1965 war (c) 1962 war (d) Kargil conflict → (a).
Q9. How many Field Marshals has India had? (a) Two (b) One (c) Three (d) Four → (a) — Cariappa and Manekshaw.
Q10. India's only tri-service geographical command is at: (a) Port Blair (b) Mumbai (c) Kochi (d) Udhampur → (a) — the Andaman and Nicobar Command.
Q11. Multi-domain operations treat which of the following as a single operating space? (a) Land, sea, air, space and cyber (b) Only land and air (c) Only maritime and air (d) Cyber alone → (a).
Q12. The committee whose recommendations led to the creation of HQ IDS was the: (a) Kargil Review Committee (b) Naresh Chandra Committee (c) Shekatkar Committee (d) Arun Singh Committee → (a), with the subsequent Group of Ministers report.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Higher defence organisation appears in four shapes. The year item — 2001 for HQ IDS against 2019 for the CDS and the Department of Military Affairs, three dates candidates routinely merge. The post item — CDS, CISC and COSC Chairman, distinguished by function; the CDS being permanent Chairman of the COSC is the linking fact. The command item — the tri-service organisations (Andaman and Nicobar Command, Strategic Forces Command, Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency, AFSOD). The committee item — Kargil Review Committee, Naresh Chandra and Shekatkar committees matched to their recommendations.
The fresh 2026 hook is the 4th edition's curriculum — grey-zone, cognitive and multi-domain operations — which supplies definitional material as well as a current-affairs fact. As always, we describe the recurring pattern, not any exact past question.
Preparing for the NDA? Higher defence organisation is one of the densest scoring areas in the paper, and it is entirely learnable from one chart of posts, years and committees. Build it with our NDA general knowledge notes, follow the daily NDA current affairs, and train with our ex-officer faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Col Vijyanat Thakur — Defence & strategic affairs faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB / Ministry of Defence, 30 August 2026. Institutional details cross-verified with independent sources.