Indian Defence Review

The Truth about Rising Defence Pensions

There is considerable commotion in media over the rising defence pension outlay which has touched Rs 1.33 lakh crore. There are headlines like “General Rawat Favours Pension Cut, Colonial Bungalows to go Away” as if the two are connected and auction of colonial bungalows will supplement pension bill, defence budget...

Corona Virus: Developing National Strategy to Counter New Age Bio-Weapons

Biological warfare involves use of Micro-organisms or toxins derived from living organisms to produce death, disability or toxicity in humans, animals or plants. The history of biological warfare is as old as history of warfare itself. It was common practice in ancient warfare, to throw plague infested dead bodies in...

Lessons learnt? A year after Pulwama

Almost a year after Pulwama on February 14, 2019, the following strike on Balakot on February 26 and the aerial engagement the day after that, I was happy to see that we seemed to have learned some lessons from these episodes. As has been widely debated and discussed in public forums, the basic intent and objective of...

Corona Virus: Developing National Strategy to Counter New Age Bio-Weapons

Nailing Pakistan’s War on Terror Financing Farce

It’s neither appropriate nor civil to accuse the judiciary of being biased, but then, exceptions are always there and Pakistan is one such example where just a year and a half ago, Justice Shaukat Siddiqui who was then a sitting judge of Islamabad High Court judge made some very shocking revelations. The judge openly...

Sending troops to Afghanistan would be ludicrous

Suggestions are being injected through media that Hamdullah Mohib, National Security of Afghanistan during his recent visit to New Delhi “privately” requested that India deploy a Brigade or a Division to Afghanistan in peacekeeping role prior to a peace deal with Taliban which would likely lead to withdrawal of US...

The Truth about Rising Defence Pensions

Lessons learnt? A year after Pulwama

India’s Aerospace Industry: Structure, Strategies, Policies and the Road Ahead

The aerospace industry accounts for nearly 40 percent of global military expenditure which stood at $1,822 billion last year (Sipri 2018). The US is a major player in terms of military expenditure (30 percent), export of conventional arms (34 percent) and allocation to defence R&D (60 percent). Nearly two-thirds of...

J&K and Ladakh: Intense winter season highlights People-Army bond

The people of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh region have, along with the Army, faced great challenges to neutralise a diabolic foreign design of wresting the region from the Indian Union through the medium of a low cost Proxy war and cross-border terrorism. The mainstay of this epic fight has been mutual trust and an...

India Under a Hybrid Attack?!

“Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.” —Sun Tzu In the aftermath of the dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971, Zulfikar Bhutto is quoted to have said “we will bleed India by a...

New Bodo Accord

Signing of the Bodo Accord on January 23 between the Government of India and Bodos is a significant step that would contribute greatly towards ushering peace in the turbulent northeast. The new Bodo Accord was signed with all the rebel factions: the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the All Bodo Students’...

Marginal Increase in Defence Budget Could Mar Modernisation

The disappointing part is that there has been a very marginal increase in the capital outlay for defence for 2020-21 as compared to the budget estimates and revised estimates of 2019-20, which will affect several big-ticket projects of the defence forces that are being done for building capabilities against our two...

Drones: A Game Changer in Future Conflict

Drones have been called “the ultimate military growth industry”. Air, naval and land forces everywhere are striving to acquire these platforms. Herein lies the danger; thanks to advanced armed drones, aggression is becoming pain-free. Practically every military that has inducted UCAVs has sought to purchase even...

MBDA at DefExpo 2020: "Making in India"

“MBDA has two exciting focuses during DEFEXPO 2020: providing the highest performing missile technologies to India, and secondly delivering on Make in India as part of our longstanding partnership strategy with India. DEFEXPO 2020 is timely as it falls soon before the arrival in India of the first Rafale fighter...

Turks and Syrians Heading Towards a Major Conflict

Turkey and Syria are now directly involved in the military confrontation and this time not through proxies but...

Turbulent times for Beijing

The world is going through tumultuous times. China, too, has not been spared. A dreaded virus has struck the Middle...

Myanmar: Current Developments and President Xi’s Visit: China Gains

President Xi Jinping made a two-day visit to Myanmar on 17th and 18th of January. Though the visit was declared as one to mark the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the two countries, the real reason for the visit appears to be to regain the momentum of the Chinese dominance in Myanmar which had shown some strains recently. In an op-ed published under his name in Myanmar State...

Sri Lankan Refugees- Another Memorable Judgement

India has not ratified the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees nor the 1967 Protocol. Nor has India enacted so far a national refugee law. With the passing of the Amendment to the Citizenship Act different yardsticks are being applied to the refugees in different parts of...

How killer Corona virus has dented President Xi's mandate

Dynasties in the Middle Kingdom go through cycles. The Emperor of a strong and just dynasty brings peace and prosperity to the people with the ‘Mandate of Heaven’. With time, the system becomes corrupt and the people start suffering. Disasters strike. The Emperor loses his mandate...

Pakistan: Where ‘Larger’ Interests Render Humans Disposable!

If Islamabad’s decision not to evacuate its students studying in Wuhan, which is the epicenter of the Coronavirus epidemic reflects sheer irresponsibility, then the reasons that it has given for doing so are even more appalling. How can a democratically government that’s...

The Army needs breathing space

“Pakistan is not an enemy country, our armies are alike too, their army kills their people and our army kills our people, there is no difference between them.” These words were spoken by Tapan Bose, an activist and film maker from West Bengal. For good measure he added that “the ruling class of India and Pakistan is alike.” The statement is best ignored as being made by an ignorant person attempting to gain media limelight with...