Indian Defence Review

March 1971 – Political Chess Played by Army Generals

Gen Yahya Khan President of Pakistan and Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) Lt. Gen. Yakub Martial law Administrator, Zone B (East Pakistan) Vice Admiral Ahsan Governor East Pakistan Lt. Gen. Abdul Hamid Khan Deputy CMLA and Chief of Staff (Pak...

Lessons from the 1962 Sino-Indian War in Ladakh

This is the third and concluding part of the Sino-Indian war, and although, it covers the wider canvas of the war, it focuses on Ladakh. The previous parts of the extracts from the book: The Crimson Chinar – The Kashmir Conflict: A Politico-Military Perspective that form this series, posted on this site before this:...

Impact of 1971 War on Pakistan

Yahya Khan was commissioned into the 4/10 Baluch Regiment in British Indian Army on 15th July 1939 from the Indian Military Academy. During World War II, he was taken prisoner in North Africa and escaped from the ‘prisoner of war’ camp in Italy on the third attempt. During partition in 1947, he was an instructor at...

The Chinese Ultimatum

The Chinese occupation of Tibet and the flight of the Dalai Lama in 1959, posed a new threat to India. The Himalayas were no longer impregnable, and one could easily foresee the future aggressive designs of China by the rapidity with which the construction of air bases, and roads, and the setting up of new garrisons all...

China Wages Total War: Can The World Afford To Play Dumb

“Total war is no longer waged by all members of one national community against all those of another. It is total … because it may well involve the whole world” – Jean-Paul Sartre Beijing made it clear in 1999 that when it went to war with the USA, it would be a new type of war. In fact, the wheels were already...

Operation ‘Polo’ and Impact & Ramifications on India’s First Kashmir War

Objectively speaking, the 108 hours campaign undertaken to liberate the Princely State of Hyderabad, codenamed Operation (Op) Polo stands out as India’s ‘first’ military success. Having said that, in view of its timing, (September 1948), and the forces it ‘dislocated,’ at a time when India was fighting a grim...

March 1971 – Political Chess Played by Army Generals

Lessons from the 1962 Sino-Indian War in Ladakh

Impact of 1971 War on Pakistan

Manipur Ambush: Madness or a Method?

Incidents of terrorists ambushing security forces in India’s North East aren’t uncommon and nor does their barbaric practice of murdering security force personnel incapacitated in such attacks arouse a sense of revulsion.Yet, Saturday’s ambush in near S Sehken village under Behiang Police Station in Churachandpur...

Demographic invasion of India from the North East

First Published in print issue of Indian Defence Review (Vol 22.2) Apr-Jun, 2007 Six decades of ‘Indian effort’, still Seven Sisters have not been fully integrated with the main landmass. Thousands of crores of money has been pumped into the North East. In fact our Central Govt is indirectly financing the...

Sarp Vinash 2.0

Counter-terrorist operations launched by the Army in the area of Nar Khas Forest in J&K’s Poonch region on the evening of October 14 after five Army personnel were killed during an encounter with terrorists are still ongoing. Nine Army personnel including two JCOs have lost their lives in these operations so far; five...

All-new Ka-62 Civil Helicopter Certified in Russia

November 30, 2021, Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) issued a type certificate for an all-new Ka-62 civil helicopter to Russian Helicopters holding company of Rostec State Corporation. This document allows selling the helicopter at the Russian market. Ka-62 helicopter flight test program was launched in 2017...

High Performance, Reliable LWIR Thermal Imaging with Teledyne FLIR Tau 2 Series

The Tau 2 series offers 40+ variants of the most reliable and rugged longwave infrared (LWIR) thermal camera module. Equipped with a simple optical interface and common commercial interfaces, integration with the Tau 2 and new Tau 2+ is seamless. LWIR Thermal Camera Integration Made Easy Teledyne FLIR has you covered...

INS Vela: The fourth Kalvari-Class Submarine entirely made in India based on Scorpene® Design

On 25 November 2021, INS Vela, the fourth P75 Kalvari-class submarines, was commissioned within Indian Navy in presence of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Chairman & Managing Director, Vice Admiral Narayan Prasad (Retd.) and several other dignitaries. The event was also attended by Naval Group’s Executive Vice...

Intelligence: Past, Present and Future

All over the Western world, till the Second World War, intelligence agencies were viewed and grudgingly accepted as...

Desert Raids by Indian Special Forces (December 1971)

In March 1971, the genocide unleashed in East Pakistan under Pakistani General Tikka Khan, Governor of East Pakistan...

1971 War: Capture of Dacca

From the beginning of the war on December 3, when Yahya Khan launched a surprise attack on Indian airfields and land operations across the borders, the situation in East Pakistan never turned favourable for his forces for various reasons. From December 7 onwards, the situation was really getting out of control and Pakistan could never stem the Indian counter offensive in East Pakistan. In...

100 Days of Taliban Rule

Last week Taliban completed 100 days of power in Afghanistan. The interim government (as it terms itself) was imposed by the Pak ISI, with the DG ISI visiting Kabul and brokering disputes on Government formation. This Haqqani led Government, sidelined moderates who were part of...

China’s New Foreign Assets

Media reports indicate that Uganda risks losing the Entebbe International Airport to China due to default in debt repayment. The Ugandan government represented by the finance ministry and the civil aviation authority had signed an agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China...

Xi-Biden Summit Flops

The over-hyped Xi-Biden summit held last week ended up as ‘much ado about nothing.’ The nearly three-and-a-half-hours summit was mainly both sides projecting their views with no joint statement being released, though this had already been hinted by the White House, prior to...

A forgotten hero in the Mumbai terrorist attack...

Do you know who this person is? No idea? OK, let me tell you him. This is Mr. Tukarama Omble. Ring a Bell? Still can’t place him? Hmmm… I guess you know who “Ajmal Kasab” is? Great. Imagine how popular Ajmal Kasab is. But, as for Tukarama Omble, very few know about him… Let me give you some details about him. “48 year old, Assistant Sub Inspector, Tukaram Omble was on the night shift on the night of Nov. 26-27, 2008, when 10 Pakistani...