New Delhi: The chief of defence staff, General NS Raja Subramani, has unveiled a five-point BUILD framework to prepare India’s armed forces and defence ecosystem for future wars, outlining priorities ranging from battlefield awareness and technology integration to industrial-scale production. He presented the framework at News18 Defcon 2026 in New Delhi on Friday as militaries adapt to faster, more transparent and increasingly multi-domain warfare.
BUILD stands for Battlefield, Understanding the changing economics of warfare, Integration, Learning and adaptation, and Delivery at scale. The framework is intended to connect India’s defence ambitions with the operational and industrial demands of future conflict rather than serve as a separately notified weapons programme or doctrine.
Gen Subramani described modern battlefields as increasingly transparent, connected and contested, with surveillance and strike capabilities reducing the distinction between forward and rear areas. “There is increasingly no safer rear,” he said, adding that sensors, algorithms and networks can now shorten the sensor-to-shooter cycle to minutes or even seconds.
The “U” in BUILD focuses on the changing economics of warfare. Gen Subramani cited relatively inexpensive drones locating high-value targets to illustrate cost asymmetry, while stressing that military systems must remain effective not only on the first day of war but on the 50th and 100th days across high-altitude, desert, hot and cold environments.
Integration forms the third pillar. The CDS said networks must communicate, data must flow securely and systems and algorithms must operate across services so commanders receive decision advantage rather than simply more information.
He also called for artificial intelligence to move from demonstrations towards practical warfighting applications and pointed to unmanned surface and underwater vessels as emerging capabilities. The emphasis extends to integrating the armed forces, technology developers and defence industry within a common operational architecture.
The fourth pillar, learning and adaptation, reflects the speed at which technology, tactics, geopolitics and geoeconomics are changing. Gen Subramani said some traditional military assumptions were becoming obsolete and described faster learning and adaptation as an increasingly important combat capability.
The final pillar, delivery at scale, links defence manufacturing to strategic endurance. The CDS said industry must be assessed not only by the sophistication of the weapons it produces, but also by its ability to manufacture, modify, repair and sustain systems quickly and economically.
India’s defence production reached a record ₹1.78 lakh crore in financial year 2025-26, while exports touched ₹38,424 crore. The BUILD framework therefore places battlefield speed, jointness, technological integration, adaptability and production capacity within a single framework for preparing India’s military for prolonged, technology-intensive conflict.