Lt Gen Virin Dhir

New Age Biological Warfare and Pandemic - Virus .......the Braham Astra Lt Gen Virin Dhir

SARS CoV-2 virus has spared none and respected no boundaries between nations, rich and poor, people of color and race - it has left the world "gasping for breath". The picture bears an uncanny resemblance to what the images would be like during a biological war. This unmissable connect has been the force behind writing this book.

The ongoing revolution in biotechnology has initiated transformational changes in the biological warfare. It has created the means to modify the genome of a virus through genetic engineering, thus enabling development of highly lethal biological weapons. The book contains some basic information concerning genetic engineering, so that the military readership can better appreciate the employment of future biological weapons like binary and stealth weapons etc.

Equally interesting is the discussion of novel strategic concepts like: small weapon big bang, retaliatory assured destruction, fog of ambiguities and uncertainties, bio umbrella and multi space battles. It is followed by the study of Bioterrorism and asymmetric conflict, the space in which the biological warfare is most likely to manifest.

The book dwells heavily on the need for jointmanship between the defence forces and the civilian agencies to fight the menace of any future pandemic or an act of bioterrorism. Many constructive propositions have been put forth towards developing national biosecurity strategy, state level coordination and optimal utilization of resources.