New Delhi: India’s rich defence and military heritage takes centre stage once again as the third edition of the Indian Military Heritage Festival (IMHF) opens on 14–15 November 2025 in New Delhi. Hosted by the United Service Institution of India (USI), this high-profile event brings together military, academia, industry and public stakeholders for two days of dialogue, exhibitions and book launches.
Background of Indian Military Heritage Festival 2025
The Indian Military Heritage Festival is a flagship event initiated by the USI’s Centre for Military History & Conflict Studies. It’s designed to deepen public awareness of India’s military traditions, heritage and strategic challenges.
The previous editions were held in 2023 and 2024, with increasing participation from three Services, academia and defence industry. The 2025 edition starts with the momentum from these earlier successes.
Importance of Indian Military Heritage Festival 2025
This year’s IMHF carries heightened significance:
- It provides a unique multi-stakeholder platform – involving the three Services, defence industry, academia, diplomats and the public.
- It offers fresh insights into India’s strategic posture, military heritage research and emerging defence-industry linkages at a time of complex geopolitics.
- The festival includes flagship releases of publications such as The Sukraniti: Statecraft and Warcraft by Col P.K. Gautam (Retd) and Honours & Awards of the Indian Armed Forces by Dr A.K. Mishra.
- Plus, an exhibition of iconic military paintings by Lt Col Arul Raj (Retd) adds a cultural dimension, bridging heritage and public engagement.
Key Challenges to Watch
Even as the festival shines a spotlight, several challenges are worth noting:
- Translating heritage discussions into actionable policy or industry outcomes remains complex.
- Maintaining public engagement beyond elite stakeholders is critical to democratise military-heritage awareness.
- Ensuring that panel discussions and exhibitions drive new research, rather than just reiterating familiar narratives, will be essential to keep the festival relevant.
- In an era of rapidly evolving technology and strategic competition, linking heritage reflection with forward-looking defence innovation is a challenge.
Key Implications
The outcomes of IMHF 2025 may have several implications:
- A stronger narrative on India’s military heritage can reinforce national strategic identity and public understanding of defence.
- Publications and discussions launched here could influence defence-education curriculums, museum setups, heritage tourism or defence-industry collaboration.
- This forum may help foster new partnerships between research institutions, industry and Services, contributing to India’s self-reliance and strategic autonomy.
- Public-industry-academia dialogues can boost the defence ecosystem, aligning heritage with future-readiness.
Way Forward
To maximise impact, stakeholders should focus on:
- Follow-through of insights: Panel discussions should feed into white-papers, research collaborations and actionable frameworks.
- Wider outreach: Engage school/college students, heritage enthusiasts and the general public via interactive exhibitions, digital content and heritage-tour links.
- Industry connection: Convert heritage insights into industry briefings, innovation challenges or heritage-technology crossovers (e.g., VR war-heritage exhibitions).
- Global linkage: Expand future editions of IMHF to include international defence-heritage exchanges, linking India’s heritage with partner-nations’ narratives.
- Research publications: Leverage the festival to release more strategic research and heritage documentation, building an archive that serves scholars, policy-makers and the public.
