Indian Defence Review

De-Globalization and Road Ahead for India’s Defence Manufacturing

Trade is an engine of growth and has been a major factor in impacting GDP handsomely, in both developed and developing economies since the 1970s. From a measly share of 8% in global output in the 1970s, trade accounts for nearly 20% of world GDP which is around 66 trillion dollars. Apart from the USA, EU countries and...

Dollar and the Petrodollar

The POTUS Joe Biden’s visit to Papua New Guinea in a bid to counter growing Chinese influence in the Pacific has been cancelled. Biden also cancelled attending the QUAD meeting scheduled in Sydney, due to which Australia was forced to cancel the QUAD meet. Biden’s plans have been disrupted because of the critical...

Pakistan in Spirals: A Road to nowhere

75 Years of sham of democracy seems to be heading towards course correction, albeit in a revolutionary format in Pakistan. Nothing surprising in a politically skewed environment with deep afflictions of religious radical mindset. A sub nationality that chose to get separated from its roots on basis of one exclusive...

Dollar and the Petrodollar

Pakistan in Spirals: A Road to nowhere

Finland’s Accession to NATO: What it means for European Security

As the security environment across the Atlantic turns unpredictable and complex, the relationship between the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is becoming more essential for European security and defence. With the backdrop of the Russian war on Ukraine and the collective goal of collaborating to...

Army bears brunt of myopic political platitudes

Despite four wars being fought with Pakistan and thousands of bomb blasts devastating the soil of India, New Delhi’s pursuit of a pacifist policy towards Islamabad, except for occasional surgical strikes, has only emboldened terrorists into killing more and more of highly experienced military personnel. An explosion...

First C295 for India completes its maiden flight

The first C295 for India has successfully completed its maiden flight, marking a significant milestone towards its delivery by the second half of 2023. The tactical aircraft took off from Seville, Spain, on the 5th May at 11:45 am local time (GMT+1) and landed at 14:45 pm after three hours of flight. “This first...

IAF’s Squadron Strength: Crystal Gazing at the Next Two Decades

In May last year, a report titled Global Air Power Rankings (2022) published by World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA) placed the Indian Air Force (IAF) above China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in its listing. For its ranking process, the WDMMA used a fairly objective methodology termed...

Poonch Terror Attack Exposes Pakistan’s Duplicity

The recent attack on an Indian army vehicle by Pakistan backed terrorists in the Poonch area of J&K that claimed five lives is an extremely tragic incident that serves as a grim reminder of the fact that despite facing a host of extremely menacing domestic threats ranging from political instability to financial...

Kerala-Kashmir-Kabul and the Islamic State

Reports regarding emergence of a new terror group ‘Base Movement’ has been making rounds for some time. The ramifications, reach and consequences of this terror group, however has not been analyzed to any degree. Least to say, the ramifications are pernicious. The Base Movement, which has been carrying out revenge...

Kashmir on a Roll

Investment entails acquisition of assets or items with the primary objective of generating income or for the purposes of wealth appreciation. However, since successful investment is dependent on a host of factors-both quantifiable and undeterminable, it’s a risky business. Furthermore, the fact that the capital...

Future of Attack Helicopters: The Million Dollar Question?

Background Third of October 2022, was a memorable day for Indian Aviation as the defence minister presided over the formal handing over of the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) to the Indian Air Force.[1] Designed, developed and manufactured by HAL, the induction of LCH aka Prachanda, was a momentous occasion signalling a...

Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems: Existential Threat to Humanity?

Early in January 1942, Project X-Ray of the United States of America (USA) envisaged using the Mexican Bat, endemic to South Western USA, as a retaliatory weapon against the Japanese for the attack on Pearl Harbour. The plan envisaged attaching incendiary bombs to the bats and releasing them from cluster containers,...

Defense Allocation, Reforms, Reality & The Way Forward

The Indian economy has been an outlier in terms of growth, clocking a 7.1% increase in GDP during 2022-23, and is expected to achieve 6.5% growth in 2023-24. Agriculture has proved to be a robust sector, registering an average growth rate of 3.5%, and most importantly provided much-needed food security when nearly 50...

Islamic Jihad Emerging as Most Eminent Threat from Gaza

The ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has taken effect in the Gaza Strip after days...

India France Nuclear Ability and Liability: Jaitapur Nuclear Plant

India-France nuclear relations have been growing stronger over the years. The two countries have had a long-standing...

Taliban’s Failed Coup to Establish a Foothold in Afghan Embassy in India

The recent surreptitious coup by the Taliban to insert its member in the Afghan Mission in New Delhi on April 25, 2023, raised the fundamental issue of the so-called Taliban government’s latent dysfunctional strategies that violates the norms of diplomacy, code of conduct and security. This incident has been widely condemned in the past two weeks. The statement made by Suhail Shaheen, head...

Taliban brutality against hapless Women in Afghanistan

Mahtab Hamdard is one of the women protestors and one of the women in military service during the era of the previous government. She has been imprisoned in the Taliban dungeon for more than twenty days. Mrs. Mahtab was one of the employees of the Afghan National Police in the...

The US primarily looks after its own interests: Can Washington be a good ally?

A question has been going around in the strategic circles in the recent weeks: should India enter into a military alliance with the US and will the US be a good ally? Quoting several experts, The Scroll.in noted: “India may eventually help the United States militarily in a...

Yasin Malik’s Desperate Quest for Relevance

Once an icon of the so called ‘armed struggle’ in Kashmir who has had one-on-one meetings with the President of Pakistan and both the prime ministers of India and Pakistan as well as several other world leaders, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front [JKLF] chairman Yasin Malik...

Creating a Motivational Environment: A Structural-Functional Approach

This essay won a ‘special prize’ in the first Chief of Army Staff Gold Medal Essay competition in 1987. Though dated in some geo-political aspects, it retains its relevance even today. General K. Sunderji, who gave this ‘special’ prize to the author told me during the prize distribution ceremony that the evaluation committee had shortlisted it but not recommended it. While he felt that it deserved recognition hence the special...