Indian Defence Review

Afghanistan’s Challenges in the Aftermath of COVID Crisis

Afghanistan has been deeply entrenched in conflict over the past 40 years with an inconclusive stance to establish peace. COVID pandemic is creating an insurmountable headwind for Afghanistan amid heightened conflict to obscure the prospect of the war-torn country. The on-going peace talks between the Taliban and the...

Importance of Military-Industrial-Academic Complex

When I arrived in the United States in the early 1970s, to pursue a PhD in Physics and then shifted to Computer Science, one of the remarkable experiences I had was the extent to which my professors and many of the students were involved in US defense research even while they were at the University. This has been a...

ISI Meddling Again?!

Two alleged contract killers from Faridkot in Punjab, Sukhvinder Singh (25) and Lakhan (21), deployed through the aegis of Pak ISI Dubai network, were apprehended by the Special Branch of Delhi police on 26 Feb. Armed with two foreign made pistols, they were on a mission to assassinate Sushil Pandit, a beacon of...

Afghanistan’s Challenges in the Aftermath of COVID Crisis

The Ceasefire Game

Much has been said and written about the February 25, 2021 statement by Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan reiterating their commitment to ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K. News reports indicate that both countries have been holding back-channel talks for the last...

LOC Ceasefire: Need for a Formal Agreement

An unexpected and sudden announcement merely 24 hours prior to the eve of the second anniversary of the Balakot air strike that had brought two nuclear neighbours to the brink of war has brought cheers on the both sides of the Line of Control (LOC). The announcement pertains to cessation of ceasefire violations which...

Importance of Military-Industrial-Academic Complex

Major Structural Reform for Defence Modernization

Introduction The Union Budget 2021-22 has come in the backdrop of severe economic crisis, induced by a global Covid-19 pandemic. The Indian economy, whose growth was already decelerating in 2019-20,seems to be witnessing a major contraction of the economy to by 7.7%, as assessed by the Economic Survey. Independent...

UAVs: A Great Operational Asset

The precursor to modern day Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) flew more than a century ago as the Curtiss-Sperry Flying Bomb manufactured in 1917 – a 230kg empty weight aircraft capable of carrying 450kg of explosives to a range of 80km. Today, in the military space, diverse terminology is used to describe aerial...

ISI Meddling Again?!

Announcing the Penta-Polar World

India has been playing the power dynamics game without a long-term, consistent and constructed narrative or at least, there is not enough evidence of this being so. Secondly, India has perhaps been more of a playground of global power play for so long that she has not been able to transition to become the global power...

Internal Threat 1950 and now

One of the biggest lessons that can be drawn from the collapse of Soviet Union is that a country may be extremely strong on the external front but will not sustain as a nation if its internal front is weak. It is the internal front which feeds the external front. The internal front of Soviet Union had become...

Make in India and The Aerospace Industry

This article delves into ‘Make in India’ and India’s aerospace industry, the two regimes have a lot in common. Each has immense potential, but is hobbled by policy dilemmas. Each is characterised by an exterior of hyperbole which conceals a hollow internal growth and each has the potential to make a significant...

MoU between “BEL & Texmaco” at Aero India 2021, Bengaluru

A Boost to ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make-in-India’ through a unique initiative of Public-Private Partnership between Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) & Texmaco Rail & Engineering Ltd. (TREL). A strategic and a unique MoU signifying Public – Private Sector Partnership, was earlier signed by Smt. Anandi Ramalingam,...

GRSE Signs Contract for 01 FPV for Government of Seychelles

A contract for delivering 01 Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) was signed between Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) and Government of Seychelles. Signing of this prestigious contract, that occurred within just a month of the shipyard concluding a contract for 01 Ocean Going Passenger & Cargo Ferry Vessel with...

China cannot Accept Body Bags

The Global Times, China’s official mouthpiece, commenting in an article of 20th Feb, post the announcement of...

Pakistan: Still ‘Under Increased Monitoring’ of FATF

There is a great deal of disappointment in Pakistan with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based...

Indigenisation in Defence

Under the dynamic leadership of our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, a great impetus has been laid upon atmanirbharta in various strata’s and areas in our country. Complying to the same, even in the defence sector, great thrust has been given to atmanirbharta, which recently has been the corner stone of the Indian Defence Production policy. The key for atmanirbharta in defence is the...

Jihadist Radicalisation in Tamil Nadu

The incidence of jihadist radicalisation in India, across all its states, remains remarkably low when compared to West Asia, Africa and even Europe. Of the 177 ISIS sympathisers arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) since 2014, Tamil Nadu, at 34, accounted for the...

The Indian Dalai Lama

In January 1951, a few months after the invasion of Tibet and sensing a threat from China, the then Assam Governor Jairamdas Daulatram ordered a young Naga officer to march to Tawang and start adminstrating the area. On February 9, 1951, Maj Ralengnao (Bob) Khathing, accompanied...

Developing India’s Port Sector to meet its Global Aspirations

For a country as dependent on the sea as India for its economic well-being with about 95 percent of its trade by volume, over 74 percent by value, and more than 80 percent of its oil and gas traveling over the sea, its 12 major ports and 205 non-major ports will soon be inadequate...

Pakistan should also Cease its Social Media Propaganda in J&K

India and Pakistan armies have agreed to cease firing along the Line of Control (LoC) from midnight of February 24-25, 2021. The agreement has been reached through deliberations of the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMO) of the two countries. “The two sides reviewed the situation along the Line of Control and all other sectors in a free, frank and cordial atmosphere. In the interest of achieving mutually beneficial and...