Indian Defence Review

Kabul’s Influence: Strained by Deadly Assaults and Defectors

On February 29, 2020, in Doha, Qatar, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban leader Mullah Baradar Akhund signed the “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan.” Touted as a peace agreement with the Taliban, evidence in the months to follow suggests the U.S. confirmed nothing more than a withdrawal deal...

Ladakh Standoff – Keep the Powder Dry

China recently stated that situation at the border is overall stable and controllable. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said both China and India have proper mechanisms and communication channels to resolve the issues through dialogue and consultations. Sun Weidong Chinese ambassador at New Delhi said, China and...

ToD - a proposal by Generals or General Managers?

Late Gen Hamid Gul of the Pakistan Army was termed as the father of terror by few western journalists and even a documentary was made on him with this title. He was forced to retire from Pak Army in 1991. Later, in a TV interview, he was asked for the reason, to which he replied, “I was being side-lined by being...

Kabul’s Influence: Strained by Deadly Assaults and Defectors

Ladakh Standoff – Keep the Powder Dry

Dragon Dares India: How to Face the Dragon

In the ongoing battle of supremacy amidst the corona crisis between USA and China, the latter let loose its wolf warriors signifying China’s new, more robust diplomatic riposte against those countries critical of China. China all of a sudden was faced with a hostile global narrative blaming it for the corona pandemic,...

ToD - a proposal by Generals or General Managers?

Hypersonic Weapons: A New Threat or Just Another Technology Demonstrator?

One of the most keenly observed weapons system during China’s National Day military parade on 1 October 2019 was the hypersonic glide vehicle. 18 of the sleek, aerodynamically shaped glide vehicles participated in the parade, presenting a whole new weapon system which many have called as a game changer. China has...

India’s War against COVID-19: Impact on Defence and India’s Emergence as a Global Manufacturing Hub

Ever since the outbreak of Coronavirus Pandemic, a plethora of literature has appeared on various aspects of the problem . Adverse impact on business and financial sectors has been analyzed by numerous economists. The latest forecast of India’s GDP growth rate of around 1.9% by the IMF does not paint a good...

India: Challenges & Opportunities - The War against Terror

India has faced insurgencies and terrorism since independence with the ingress of ‘Razakars’ from Pakistan with an intermix of regulars, reportedly even led by British Officers! The 80’s saw a growth of such acts and post 1984 began the terrorism in Punjab demanding a separate state of Khalistan, 1990 marked the...

Anatomy of Stone Pelting During Encounters in Kashmir

It’s very easy for activists and the intelligentsia who sit safely in the confines of their homes to decry temporary suspension of mobile and internet services in an area where an is encounter going on between terrorists and security forces in J&K. For such ‘concerned’ champions of human rights, these actions is...

JK Domicile Rules: Win-Win for All

The Government of India on 05 August 2019, by abrogating controversial Article 35A of the Constitution of India undid the injustice done to the citizens of India against the spirit of the same Constitution by denying them one of their fundamental rights. This article was inserted in the Indian Constitution through a...

Fully Autonomous Military Systems – Challenges in Development

After the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), few advanced nations are busy in developing and deploying an array of autonomous weapon systems to attain better speed and accuracy. All fatal missions are likely to be undertaken by unmanned systems in future. AI based Tactical Decision Support Systems (TDSS) could...

Far reaching reforms in Defense Production

As a part of PM’s grand initiative to combat COVID and looming economic crisis, the FM has been unveiling a slew of major initiative to resuscitate MSMEs, Power sector, migrant workers, farmers etc. These are essentially intended to provide increased sinews to the “Make in India” initiative, christened...

Hiking FDI in Defence Aimed At Drawing in Active Foreign Participation

Announcing the fourth tranche of the economic package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman revealed three important government decisions related to defence. These include corporatization of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), hiking Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in defence and banning certain imports where indigenous...

Dissecting Tour of Duty

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is reportedly preparing a case for Tour of Duty (ToD) in the Army; one year training...

CPEC and Pakistan’s Great Expectations

Since Islamabad has been bandying the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as the ultimate panacea for all the...

Peoples Land-grab Army (PLA) of China is presently at its element

“Desperate men do desperate things,” these words ring in the ears with regard to the series of misadventures that China is indulging in the critical COVID environment. Apart from its international isolation due to deceit and treachery in management of COVID-19, China is facing an existential crisis on several fronts. Shortage of food for its huge population, falling demand for its industrial...

To Tame the Dragon Is Status Quo the Answer

The standoff at Doklam in 2017 is followed by another and bigger standoff in Eastern Ladakh in 2020 with defence analysts, diplomats and strategic experts predicting the frequency to be almost annual due to the ostensible Chinese annoyance at the rapid rate of development of...

Bangladesh – A New South Asian Tiger or an Authoritarian state?

PM Sheikh Hasina enjoys the heroic image for her achievements. On the other side looks surrounded by the difficult questions over attacks on minorities and seculars in the Country. Bangladesh is called a new “South Asian Tiger” under the Sheikh Hasina regime, but many people...

Fifty years-on, Chetwode!!...Really?.... Remisensing My Days at IMA

Dear Course-Mates, Not unlike many of you, passing through portals of the Chetwode Hall nearly half a century back was a life-changing event for me. It set our lives on a new trajectory. Aside from a strong foundation in a military...

Xi calls-up Trump amid rising ‘Anti-Americanism’ at home, Experts warn not to rescue the ‘Wolf’

Timing is everything in politics. For President Xi Jinping, timing is everything in diplomacy too. It is not known if Xi is familiar with the famous Pierre Trudeau axiom, which is ‘the essential ingredient of politics is timing’. Given with how much esteem every top Chinese Communist Party leader in the post-Mao Reform era had embraced Henry Kissinger, it is very doubtful general-secretary comrade Jinping has not learnt well his...