Titled Beyond the Kinetic: Deconstructing Warfare in the Socio-Technical-Cognitive Battlespace, the paper was published in January by New Delhi-based think tank Council for Strategic and Defence Research (CSDR).
The paper examines how modern warfare is increasingly shaped not only by the strength and capabilities of military forces, but also by the flow of information within societies and institutions.
Its arguments were later cited multiple times in Hybrid War: Threats to Power Grid Infrastructure, a study published by the Polish Association for National Security (PTBN) with partial funding from NATO’s Science for Peace and Stability (SPS) Programme.
General VK Singh lauds Army officers
In a post on X on Wednesday, General VK Singh described the international recognition of Hooda and Rajan’s work as a “landmark achievement for Indian strategic thought” in the hybrid, cognitive and technological domains.“Delighted to see the pioneering theoretical framework by distinguished Veterans — former Northern Army Commander Lt Gen DS Hooda (Retd) & Lt Col Pavithran Rajan (Retd) — receive international recognition,” Singh wrote.
He noted that their paper had been “extensively cited” in the NATO-linked publication, particularly in its chapter on AI and cognitive warfare, and congratulated the two veterans.
Cognitive Warfare: What is the paper by Indian Army officers about
Hooda and Rajan argue that modern warfare has moved beyond the traditional objective of locating and destroying physical targets. They describe a Socio-Technical-Cognitive Battlespace (STCB) in which information, technology and human perception can play a decisive role in conflicts.According to the paper, publicly available information, shaped and amplified by algorithms on digital platforms, can influence public opinion and strategic outcomes in ways comparable to military operations on the battlefield.
The authors identify cognitive warfare as a central element of modern conflict. They argue that adversaries can manipulate information on social media to exploit existing social divisions and information gaps, with the objective of influencing how people perceive events and make decisions rather than simply spreading false information.
They also warn that the growing use of artificial intelligence could make disinformation campaigns more precise and scalable by enabling personalised messages designed to exploit individual and societal vulnerabilities.
The paper calls for greater resilience through media literacy, stronger institutions, improved inter-agency coordination and closer scrutiny of foreign-controlled digital and social media platforms.
Its central premise is that an adversary does not necessarily need to defeat an enemy's military forces or destroy its infrastructure to weaken its ability to fight. By shaping the information environment and influencing public perceptions, adversaries can affect public behaviour, erode social trust and complicate a government's ability to respond during a conflict.
NATO cites paper
The arguments made by Hooda and Rajan were cited at least 10 times in the "AI & Cognitive Warfare" chapter of Hybrid War: Threats to Power Grid Infrastructure.The study was authored by Jarosaw Tomasiewicz, a professor at the University of Silesia; Michal Piekarski, an assistant professor at the University of Wrocaw; and Marcin Lipka, a lieutenant colonel in the Polish Army reserves.
The chapter examines cognitive warfare and the OODA loop -- Observe, Orient, Decide and Act a framework through which military commanders assess situations and determine appropriate responses.
Citing Hooda and Rajan, the report argues that achieving “cognitive dominance” is not merely about completing the OODA cycle faster than an adversary, but can also involve disrupting the opponent's decision-making process.
The Indian veterans' analysis of the Russia-Ukraine war was also referenced. Their discussion of Ukraine's use of privately operated satellite communications, particularly Starlink, was cited to examine how technology can help maintain operational resilience and prevent digital isolation during conflict.
The publication also cited their work while discussing Ukraine's use of Clearview AI to identify Russian soldiers through social-media databases and relay information about them to their relatives in Russia.