A seminar at the Indian Army’s Southern Command in Pune brought together senior military leadership, veterans, scientists, industry leaders and academic experts to discuss ways to build an integrated, future-ready and technologically empowered force, an official release said.

The two-way ‘JAI Se Vijay Seminar 2026’ concluded on Saturday as a focused professional forum to advance the vision of JAI (Jointness, Aatmanirbharta and Innovation), it said.

The seminar commenced with the Opening Address by Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, who emphasised “the changing character of warfare necessitates truly integrated, innovation-driven and self-reliant forces to retain operational advantage and strategic relevance in future conflicts”, it said.

He also said that ‘JAI’ is not just a framework, but a pathway to success: ‘JAI se Vijai’. He concluded his address by saying that the pillars of Jointness, Aatmanirbharta, and Innovation define “how we train, equip, and employ our Armed Forces to meet the challenges of today and anticipate those of tomorrow”.

In his Keynote address, Gen Anil Chauhan, Chief of Defence Staff, highlighted JAI as the pathway to “VIJAI”, stressing that technology absorption and institutional transformation are critical to future force readiness.

The seminar featured three thematic sessions addressing core pillars of JAI transformation, the release said.

The first session, titled “Atmashakti: Joint Synergy for Combat Strength and Self-Reliance”, was moderated by Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia, and focused on joint operational integration, convergence of capabilities and innovation-led combat strength, it said.

The second session, ‘Aatmanirbharta: Building Defence Capability through Indigenous Ecosystems’, was moderated by Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi (Retd).

The discussions were centred on strengthening indigenous defence capability through research, innovation and industrial ecosystems, with emphasis on self-reliant design, development and production, resilient supply chains, and deeper collaboration between the Armed Forces, DRDO, industry and start-ups to achieve strategic autonomy, it said.

The final session titled, ‘Military-Civil Fusion: Driving Defence Innovation for Jointness and Aatmanirbharta’, was moderated by Lt Gen Raj Shukla (Retd).

It examined “Military-Civil Fusion as a critical force multiplier, underscoring Whole-of-Nation synergy across government, industry, academia and technology sectors to accelerate defence innovation, capability integration and multi-domain readiness”, the release said.

The seminar witnessed wide participation from industry stalwarts, defence manufacturers, start-ups, innovators, academic researchers and policy practitioners, it said.

The event achieved its intended objectives by developing a shared understanding of JAI as a force transformation framework and generating actionable recommendations to strengthen joint structures, advance self-reliant capability, accelerate innovation adoption and deepen Military-Civil Fusion, it said.

The Southern Command reaffirmed its commitment to advancing professional military dialogue and integrated capability development to ensure that India’s Armed Forces remain resilient, adaptive and prepared for emerging multi-domain security challenges, the release added.