Air Vice Marshal Ashutosh Dixit stresses self-reliance in electronic warfare, says true Atmanirbharta is ‘when we own the chip as well as the code’

Air Vice Marshal Ashutosh Dixit said on Tuesday that India was still reliant on foreign supply chains for high-grade semiconductors and that true Atmanirbharta would be achieved only “when we own the chip as well as the code”.
Air Vice Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, who is also the chief of integrated defence staff, was delivering the keynote address at the inaugural function of the 7th International Conference on Electronic Warfare, hosted at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
Air Vice Marshal Dixit said the notion of electronic warfare as merely a support arm is outdated. “The events of the last twelve months, specifically the crucible of Operation Sindoor, have rewritten our thoughts. EW is no longer the shield but the sword…if you cannot control the electromagnetic spectrum, you cannot control the battle,” he said.
Air Vice Marshal Dixit said that Operation Sindoor had not only been a traditional exchange of fire but a “duel of electrons”. In the context of Pakistani attacks with drones and loitering munitions, it was not only kinetic munitions or interceptors that saved the day, he added.
“It was our dominance in the invisible battlefield. We witnessed two victories that night—our systems effectively blinded the enemy. We denied them the sight required to fight, turning billion-dollar hardware into silent statues. Second, project IACCS (Integrated Air Command and Control System) and Akashteer faced their baptism by fire. On the critical night, IACCS…..identified and assigned targets in microseconds in speeds that the human mind can’t match,” he said. “This victory belonged to the scientists and engineers in this room. In 2026, it is no longer about aspiring for indigenisation but the arrival of indigenisation.”
The event was organised by the Association of Old Crows, an international NGO that advocates for the development of electronic warfare capacity, with the backing of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), and the Ministry of Defence, among others.
Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth, who was the chief guest of the event, spoke via a recorded message at the inaugural session. Other speakers and dignitaries included senior DRDO figures Dr B K Das and Dr L C Mangal, as well as BEL Chief Managing Director Manoj Jain.
The three-day conference includes the presentation of 130 technical papers on the topic of various aspects of electronic warfare from the research, defence, and academic sectors alike, while delegates at the event include scientific experts in the field, personnel from the armed forces, and manufacturers.
The conference also includes an indoor exhibition displaying various products and technologies related to electronic warfare from around the world, with 48 organisations from as far afield as the US, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, and Israel being represented at the conference in various capacities.