Disinformation is an important part of Psychological Warfare. The narratives created by resorting to Disinformation can yield handsome returns in the present times of social media dominance in distorting facts and creating an alternate narrative which is full of subterfuge and ruse. A concerted campaign just prior to the conduct or post conduct of an operation can substantially tilt the balance towards the defendants rather than the perpetrator. This influences the political and diplomatic fallout of an operation and can have huge impact on the subsequent negotiations and the pace of war. This is a part of a Hybrid Warfare.
The recent breach of the polish airspace by the Russian drones and the subsequent disinformation campaign launched by Russia on the social media was an act of Hybrid Warfare and one of the most coordinated disinformation campaigns in recent history. Hybrid warfare’s broad definition can be that it entails an interplay or combination of conventional as well as unconventional instruments of power and tools of subversion- albeit a broad-brush definition yet it highlights the tools and coverage of such a warfare. The Op Sindoor experience of Pakistan’s employment of this strategy encompassing Cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns along with the Drones attacks is Hybrid warfare with the aim to change the narrative where India is shown as the aggressor. These efforts have tremendous influence on the armed forces and the population in this flow of split-second information era through social media. The COAS Gen Upendra Dwivedi highlighted that a significant amount of time was spent to counter the fake narrative and then decide on the response to Pakistan’s transgressions. The Hybrid warfare breaks the kinetic energy of the operations and then the other factors need to be taken into consideration before deciding the response .
Sun Tzu said in his famous Principles on the Art of War that the ‘supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting…Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting’ which is in a way the aim of the Hybrid warfare. Although as highlighted earlier the Hybrid warfare is an interplay of both conventional and unconventional means. It is thus spreading disinformation and with the aim to create chaos in the opposite side thus denting their war efforts. The low-cost use of Drones by Pakistan along with the social media attempt to influence the public opinion was an attempt as defined by Sun Tzu to break the Indian efforts to neutralise the terrorist camps causing terrorism in India since long. The Drones are low-cost assets and can escape the conventional Air defence by virtue of their very small signatures and can cause fear among the civil population. This strategy of Pakistan was met resolutely and their efforts both on the conventional and unconventional domains thwarted. However, this is a totally different realm of warfare and it has to be countered in the real time in order to prevent it from causing harm to the morale of the armed forces and the population. It needs to be appreciated that this is one realm where the use of the weapons is having a direct impact on the population and the armed forces. It is influencing them psychologically. The disinformation can literally enhance the scope of war and may involve other countries too.
The Russian use of drones to directly attack civilians in the southern city of Kherson in Ukraine displays how an attack by a drone to kill or incapacitate a civilian is simultaneously shown as a video on the internet to instil fear in the civil population and thereby aiming to break the will to fight. It is virtually implementing an execution from the skies and to prevent the civil population from venturing out on the streets. The videos covering these attacks come with the captions like ‘There will be no more mercy’ after attacking a man. In another video after
attacking a man with a dog the caption read ‘No one deserves pity: spare me your whining’. Such unconventional approach is being used by Russians to break the morale of the Ukrainians.
Such videos are regularly appearing on the Telegram channel and a celebrating tinge is implicit in such posts which in norma times is unhuman yet the response on the social media is done with the aim to break the will of the Ukrainians.
The recent case of Russian drone assault on Ukraine on 9 Sep 25 is another use of Hybrid warfare which influenced along with the warring parties the NATO members too. The Russian launch of the attack on Ukraine by swerving through Poland was a violation of the Polish air space that led to immediate investigation as to how this violation took place. However, this violation was accompanied by a massive tirade on the social media with posts stating that the Drones were not Russian but Ukrainians and other posts accused Poland of a deeper NATO involvement in the conflict. These posts turned the entire discourse and baffled the population as such. A mindboggling 1.70,000 posts on this particular attack. It is difficult to find out the origin of these posts as such, yet the disinformation value of the cyber attack cannot be discounted. The share of Russian accounts or bots cannot be ascertained yet they have the capability to influence the platform’s algorithm and when the Polish population accessed the social media the discourse would have been changed with widespread ramifications to the conflict as such. The Polish population is unlikely to support the Russian incursion as historically Russian occupation of Poland left deep scars on the Polich population. However, the cyber-attack on the social media can certainly divide the country. In the event of NATO’s full-scale involvement in the conflict the Polish national effort can be compromised. Such is the impact of Hybrid Warfare and hence the need to be fully prepared to face this threat.
The threat from Hybrid warfare needs national effort and it needs to be a multidimensional strategy. The handling of disinformation cannot be the Armed forces responsibility only. However, the fine line of military secrecy of operations and the efforts to meet the disinformation campaign is very fine and needs very tactful handling as the dispelling of disinformation can also lead to compromising national defence plans. Disinformation cannot be left unattended as it can have far reaching national impact and the distortion of narrative. The counter attack plan of encountering such threats need to be taken into consideration and practiced to defeat the sinister designs of the enemy. The Hybrid War threat is very real and hence cannot be left unattended.
Congratulations Dr. Rajeev. You deserve applauses!