Maj Gen Rajiv Narayanan Writes :
In his rather interesting opinion piece in the Financial Express on 18 April 2020, ‘Post-COVID crisis: Preparing for the next battle’, Mr Ashish Kumar Chauhan, MD & CEO Bombay Stock Exchange, argues that the Bio-Weapons would play a major role in future wars and India should be prepared for it. He opines that not only should India make its own bioweapons but also be prepared for its defence.
In the article he has traced the advent of technology in warfighting during the Second World War and how the US benefitted from the migration of Jewish scientists, escaping from the Nazi pogroms in Europe. Thereafter, came the nuclear race, and post-COVID he visualises the rise of bioweapons. The author argues that bio-warfare is going on and every country worth its salt will join the race and develop offensive and defensive measures. Hence, he concludes that India would do well to follow.
Some may view this as being alarmist, while some may not. However, it should be a borne in mind that no country will openly announce its CBRN programs and only educated guesses can be made, like is being done to track the origin of outbreak of COVID-19. The major matter of concern would be the leak of such technology, deliberate or otherwise to on-state actors, terrorist organisations and rogue scientists, and what its impact would be on Global War on Terrorism.
The appointment of a leading bioweapons expert, PLA Maj Gen Chen Wei, as the head of the Wuhan lab, which is under international scrutiny as the possible origin of this pandemic, raises more questions than answers. It surely does point to a possible PLA project for offensive use of biowarfare, or its defence or both.
It would be interesting to view the comments and opinions of the esteemed followers of the USI Blog. Hope it generates an interesting discussion thread.
Maj Gen Rajiv Narayanan, AVSM, VSM (Retired), is currently the Head CS3, USI of India. He has published many articles and papers in his field of expertise – China, Indo-Pacific, Force Restructuring and Force Modernisation.
Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the organisation that he belongs to or of the USI of India.