Indian Defence Review

When Indian Army beat back waves of Chinese attack

(Based on an interview with late Lt Col DS Thapa., PVC) Some 56 years ago, in the small hours of October 20, the desolate Himalayan heights reverberated with the concentrated fury of artillery, mortar and small arms fire, which lit up the twilight sky and sounded like a thousand thunderclaps going all at once. The...

Terror shouldn’t be totally ruled out in Amritsar train massacre

The train massacre at Amritsar on Dussehra resulting in the death of 61 and injuring 72 has shaken the nation. There is no point blaming the Railways as well as the train driver. The speed of the train has not been mentioned but the fact that the scene of tragedy, Jofa Fatak area, was just 2.5 km from the Golden Temple...

Kashmir: Religious ideology is the only problem

Recently a Kashmiri student of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Manan Wani, was killed in an encounter in Handwara in the Kashmir Valley. Two other fellow terrorists belonging to the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) were also killed with him. Manan Wani was pursuing a PhD course in Geology before joining the Hizbul...

Sino-US Trade War: Politics of Fear and Anxiety

United States (US) administration under President Trump is now engaged in non-kinetic war with China not limited to trade alone. A salvo of charges against China was presented in unequivocal terms by Vice President Pence at the Hudson Institute (Washington D.C.) on 04 October, marking the US intention not to back down...

Oil – S 400 – CAATSA : A Test of Diplomacy for India

There is never a dull moment in world politics. International relations are in a constant state of flux with many an extraneous factor causing shift in alliances, changes in priorities and even worse. The only ‘constant’ as immortalised by Lord Palmerston in his famous statement on international relations: “There...

Twists and Turns in US -China Trade War

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s stopover at Beijing on 08 October may not have been a pleasant experience, more so in the backdrop of accusation of US Vice President Pence about China attempting to interfere in U.S. elections. The agenda of North Korean denuclearisation, where US and China were broadly agreeing...

When Indian Army beat back waves of Chinese attack

China's bid to subvert HAL employees

The act of meeting former and some serving employees of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) by an Indian politician, wherein he castigated the present Indian dispensation, have both elements of political ambitions and external leverages. The symbiosis of the relationship between the two needs to be understood in this...

Chemical Attacks – may not be too distant

Britain’s Minister of State for Security Ben Wallace has warned on October 9 that “Chemical and Biological weapons are marching in closer”, terrorists have prepared better arsenal and country must be prepared to face such attacks. Underlining that there is no doubt over the reality of the threat, Wallace stressed...

Terror shouldn’t be totally ruled out in Amritsar train massacre

Kashmir: Religious ideology is the only problem

Terrorist Attack from the Sea

The IB has red flagged the possibility of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) launching seaborne attack (s) in India. Reports are of large number of its cadres being trained in deep sea diving, simultaneous to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) training some 600 cadres and tying up with LeT. Gujarat and Maharashtra are reportedly threatened and...

Pallas Aviation Announced as Launch Operator for Lockheed Martin LM-100J Commercial Freighter

Lockheed Martin introduced Pallas Aviation as the first LM-100J commercial freighter operator. The LM-100J is a production variant of the proven C-130J Super Hercules, which is the military airlifter of choice for 18 nations around the world. Pallas Aviation will provide management services and operational control of...

Lockheed Martin, Tata Host F-16 Supplier Conference in India

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) are hosting an F-16 industry supplier conference this week in India. Current F-16 suppliers and prospective Indian industry partners at the event are gathering to discuss opportunities on the F-16 program — the world’s largest fighter aircraft...

Rosoboronexport: contract with India for S-400 missile systems – biggest-ever deal in company history

On October 5, 2018, in Delhi Rosoboronexport (part of the Rostec State Corporation) signed a contract to supply India with the S-400 Triumph long-range air defense missile systems (ADMS). “The S-400 supply agreement with India is a new landmark in the history of military-technical cooperation between our countries. The...

Rise of Pashtun Nationalism in Pakistan

There is an ethnic minority group of about 49 million people called Pashtun mostly living in Pakistan. Many of...

India-Russia Summit: Reading between the Lines

The 19th bilateral summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin left a mixed feeling...

My Years in a Pakistani Prison

Police Station Kasoor: As I was lost in these thoughts our captors were perhaps reaching the place where they wanted to incarcerate us. From whatever little I could overhear, I could make out that we were to be lodged in the lockup of Kasoor police station overnight and some persons from the Army (FIU) were to come to pickup us early next morning. When the jeep stopped I could guess from the...

Why China cannot be considered a Dependable Global Power

We are perhaps at a turning point in China’s relations with the rest of the world. During recent weeks, a series of events has showed that the “peaceful rise of China” may not be that smooth. During the last National People’s Congress in March, the Chinese legislative included...

Pakistan's Failing Economy Arises from Oversized Pak Army's Budget

Pakistan in 2018 has ended up as a ‘Economically Failed State’ chiefly due to massive appropriations by Pakistan Army GHQ in Rawalpindi with no questions dare asked nor accountability called for by Pakistan’s elected/nominated Prime Ministers sitting in Islamabad....

Read the lips of Army Commander Northern Command

Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (Army Commander), Northern Command, Indian Army, made some significant observations on the politico-strategic situation obtainable in Jammu and Kashmir, especially the Kashmir Valley. He spoke on the subject on...

Why suppress right to historical knowledge?

One of the biggest failures of the present Government has been its ignorance of the importance of post-Independence history. Four years after it was elected to bring about some transparency, hardly anything has changed in this field. Take for example the VK Krishna Menon Papers, held at the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML); they are still kept under wraps and remain inaccessible to researchers and scholars. The situation is so...