Do we need large Army? future wars will be about air power and missiles: Prithviraj Chavan

Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) said India holds superiority over Pakistan in terms of the Army size, but Operation Sindoor clearly established future conflicts are going to be largely in domain of air power and missiles.

“As far as the Army is concerned, we have a strength of 12 lakh to 15 lakh, while Pakistan has 5 lakh to 6 lakh personnel. But it [large size] has no meaning because that kind of war [on ground] will not happen now,” he argued.

Talking to reporters in Pune, the former Union Minister questioned the need to have such a large Army.

“Now it is irrelevant how much Infantry you have as no one will allow you to do that kind of war, and we have seen that during Operation Sindoor, the military did not move even 1 km. The conflict during Operation Sindoor was largely an aerial engagement and missile war, and going forward, wars will take place in a similar manner,” he insisted.

“In this case, is there any need to keep an Army of 12 lakh? It is better to engage them in some other work. Though we have an economy that is ten times bigger than Pakistan’s, there is parity now [as far as the Army is concerned],” Mr. Chavan maintained.

Henceforth, there will be no “hot war” where tanks of both the countries will confront each other, the Congress leader noted.

“During Kargil [in 1999], then-U.S. President Bill Clinton called to stop the war. This time [U.S.. President Donald] Trump said ‘stop the war’ and it [Operation Sindoor] was stopped and we did not do anything,” he claimed.