Indian Defence Review

China Afghan Taliban Awkward Embrace

As the United States withdraws from Afghanistan and leaves a security vacuum there, is China moving in by cozying up to the Taliban? On July 28, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a high profile official meeting with a delegation of nine Afghan Taliban representatives, including the group’s...

India’s Wait and Watch in Afghanistan: The Strategic Space

Under no circumstances Pakistan will ever allow the Quetta Shura led Taliban an upper hand in the affairs of Afghanistan. It comes as little surprise to witness the return of Taliban fighters back to base, leaving the Panjshir frontline to Haqqani supported by Pakistan assisted airstrikes. It is alleged that complete...

Women in the Army: Upside Down Logic!

In our haste for making armed forces gender ‘neutral’ and provide equal opportunity to woman, we seem to have embarked on a spree to make drastic changes in our institutions and recruitment policies. The fear of being equated with woman-hating Taliban seems to have silenced the cautionary voices that advocate a more...

China Afghan Taliban Awkward Embrace

India’s Wait and Watch in Afghanistan: The Strategic Space

Pakistan’s Achilles Heel

Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a hard-line radical who also served on Pervez Musharraf’s cabinet, recently offered conditional amnesty to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). According to news reports of September 15, 2021, Qureshi said in an interview to The Independent that the government would...

Women in the Army: Upside Down Logic!

Was the Prospect of Nobel Peace Prize behind sell-out of 93,000 Pak Prisoners of War?

The left liberals and the anti-nationals greeted the attack on Balakot with howls of disbelief and their usual rants about ‘proof,’ questioning the veracity of the forthright Indian response,in the wake of ghastly Pulwama terror attack. The cataclysmic blast had ripped through a CRPF convoy, instantly dismembering...

The Re-Incarnation of INS Vikrant

Often, a newborn is given the name of a parent, or a grandparent or a great-grandparent, and so on. In India, a number of kings have been named Vikramaditya. In the western cultures similar traditions prevail. It is not uncommon to see names perpetuated through generations.The reason for such practice in all cultures is...

Is India doomed to being a Soft State?

Is India doomed to being a soft state, too disinclined to derive lessons from serial blunders committed during the more than 70 years of independence, with eyes wide open? The question keeps popping up time and again to haunt the nation and all right thinking citizens. But the answer is a resounding ‘yes,’ staring...

India needs to become Drone-Conscious to Counter Aerial Cross-Border Threats

Terrorism exported by Pakistan’s military to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) did not end with the abrogation of Article 370 – which had given limited autonomy to the then state – of the Indian constitution by the Modi government on August 5, 2019. But the decisive step had its effect as the wide and intricate network of...

Kargil: Ours must live, enemy must die!

Even as the nation readies itself to pay homage to the extraordinary bravery displayed by the young officers and the men of the Indian Army during the Kargil conflict, the lessons thrown up raise many questions that reflect the political and the military leadership in poor light. The infiltration by Pakistanis and...

U-UAP presented Ka-226T Climber at the "Army" forum

Ulan-Ude aviation plant of Russian Helicopters Holding (Rostec State Corporation) presented at the static display of the Army-2021 International Military and Technical Forum in Patriot Park a sample of the latest modification of light multipurpose Ka-226T Climber helicopter, which will begin flight tests this...

New Mi-171SH Storm arrived at the "Army-2021" under its own power from Ulan-Ude

The upgraded Mi-171Sh Storm military transport helicopter arrived under its own power from Ulan-Ude aviation plant of ”Russian Helicopters” (Rostec State Corporation) at the international military-technical forum “Army-2021”. The five thousand kilometers flight took five days. “The multifunctional special forces...

Tata Boeing Aerospace Delivers 100th Fuselage for the AH-64 Apache Combat Helicopter

Delivery demonstrates Boeing’s continued commitment to Aatmanirbhar Bharat Production line manufactures fuselages for Apache customers around the world and for the recently contracted six Apaches for the Indian Army Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited (TBAL) today announced the delivery of the 100th fuselage for the...

The Great Afghan Betrayal: A Palace Coup?

In a series of articles exclusive to Canary Trap, investigative journalist, VK Shashikumar stitches together...

The Afghan Disaster: Lessons our Military must Heed

It may seem a case of “I told you so”, but it was predestined that the United States would always lose in...

Tough Road Ahead for Taliban

The Taliban after much wait has announced its 33-member interim cabinet. This new government is exclusively Taliban, and almost all the ministers are of Pashtun ethnicity. Women have no positions in this new setup. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs has been dissolved. And the sinister Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has been re–established. This clearly...

Never-Ending Wars of 21st Century

Easy Entry, Turbulent Exit Conflicts of the 21st Century have once again proved that big powers intervention has failed to end violence and create regional and global stability. These are “never-ending wars”, wherein the entry is a show of power and the exit of an unresolved...

Indo-China War 1962: China should shed Misplaced Euphoria of Victory

The French born author and journalist, Claude Arpi, in his article, “Time to change the narrative on 1962 India-China war” carried by The Daily Guardian on 23 August, has made some very interesting observations on the actual fallout of the Indo-China War, 1962. While...

Lake of no Return

Panjshir Needs Help

The Taliban’s rapid advance in Afghanistan has briefly stalled only in the face of strong resistance mounted by the people of the country’s recalcitrant mountainous province of Panjshir. Whoever controls the region’s passes controls the routes leading to China and Tajikistan, but to seize this mountain valley and, most importantly, to keep it permanently under control has always been a problem for all invaders. Eager to let the...