Indian Defence Review

Towards a More Vigorous Make-In-India in Defence Manufacturing

The government of the day must take the country out of its asphyxiating bureaucratisation that seriously afflicts its defence production segment. The UK did it in the 1980s by privatising British ordnance factories. This really turned around their performance in terms of cost, quality, timeliness and global...

Beyond the Bomdila Episode

The Bomdila incident exploded in the media with video clip of the Commanding Officer (CO) of the 2 Arunachal Scouts, an Amy unit, warming a police officer to stay away from his men or face dire consequences. There was little mention of what instigated the CO, and why did he warn the said police officer. The police...

Battle of Kasserine Pass: Lessons for China

In February 1943, US Forces, under the overall command of Gen Eisenhower, suffered a staggering rout at the hands of much feared Afrika Korps, in the Battle of Kasserine Pass, which holds vital strategic lessons today for the armies in general and China in particular. Even in complete retreat, a much harried Field...

Battle of Kasserine Pass: Lessons for China

War as a Multi-Dimensional Whole: A Framework for India in a Repolarizing World

As India celebrates the 19th anniversary of Vijay Diwas on 26th July – to mark our victory in Kargil war of 1999, there are much larger questions on Indian security, defence preparedness and military readiness that need to be answered. Couple of years back, in a workshop, a question that I asked to my audience was if...

Pakistan’s Blasphemy against its minorities

Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law is one among the most brutal and discriminatory legislations in the modern world. On the face of it the law prohibits Blasphemy against any recognised religion and provides for punishment ranging from fine to death. In actuality, it is being used to suppress and brutalise the minorities in...

Towards a More Vigorous Make-In-India in Defence Manufacturing

Poppies and Marigolds

The year 2018 marks the centenary of the end of World War I. ‘The War to End All Wars’ or ‘The Great War For Civilisation’ did not achieve what the belligerents or its protagonists imagined. Neither did it end ‘Before Christmas’, as the British expected, nor ‘Before the Leaves Fall’, as per the German...

Kalashiknov’s for Army – end of fumble?

After decades of fumbling, Indian Army’s hunt for a modern assault rifle appears to be nearing completion, provided MoD doesn’t pullout another rabbit from its hat. According to press reports, a deal between India and Russia is likely to be signed by end of this year , which will enable indigenous production of...

Beyond the Bomdila Episode

Sniper Rifles with J&K Terrorists

According to media reports sniper rifles being used by terrorists are those stolen by Taliban from US forces in Afghanistan and then handed over to ISI. These sniper rifles (same as used by NATO forces against Taliban in Afghanistan) have been passed them on to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists. JeM has been given a...

Combat in Cities

Russian citizens gathered in Volgograd (erstwhile Stalingrad) in February 2018 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the conclusion of the Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943), largest confrontation of World War II, in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the...

Vice Chiefs Financial Powers – and the intricacies within

The government has enhanced the financial powers of the Army, Navy and Air Force Vice Chiefs five times; from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore for expediting the decision making process involved in the procurements of the Armed Forces. The MoD statement on the issue states, “The Defence Minister has taken this important...

Indian Army Inducts Its First M777 Ultra Lightweight Howitzers

The Indian Army celebrated receiving its first M777A2 Ultra Lightweight Howitzers (ULH) at an official handover ceremony today, a key step toward the modernizing and strengthening of the Indian Army’s artillery capabilities. The 155mm M777 systems will deploy to their first regiment in 2019. The gun systems, produced...

HTT 40 Successfully Begins Spin Testing

The HTT 40 (Basic Trainer Aircraft) began the most awaited phase of the `spin test’ by successfully entering in to two turn spin and subsequently recovering with the appropriate controls. Two test pilots undertook the first ever spin entry testing today at around 1.30 pm. The aircraft was piloted by Gp Capt (Retd)...

Tampering with Military Assets

The present Government is the first in Indian history to eye military assets and use them to enhance vote banks or...

The Bangladesh War 1971: Indian Army’s finest hour

It had to happen – the political and military absurdity that was East Pakistan was never a viable proposition. No...

1971 War: Planning for Operations

Two outstanding political leaders were at the helm of affairs in 1971 and any account of the 1971 war would be incomplete without complimenting them. First and foremost was Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi whose ability to appraise complex situations, identify major problems and define clear-cut lines of action was exceptional. The second was Mr Jagjivan Ram, who held the office of Defence...

The Chinese dichotomy

China is a country full of dichotomies. Take Buddhism. On one side, China promotes Buddhism; on the other hand, Beijing severely represses the Buddha dharma. On October 28, the World Buddhist Forum opened with fanfare at Putian, in Fujian Province. According to the official...

India’s presence at 'Moscow Format' on Afghanistan was imperative

The news about India accepting Russia’s invitation to participate in a multi-nation meeting in Moscow on Afghanistan on November 9 galvanized some Kashmiri politicians in Kashmir to say that if India is opening dialogue with the Taliban then India must open talks with Pakistan...

How old CIA reports reveal that China has been repressing Muslims since the 1950s

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released a 117-page report entitled “Eradicating Ideological Viruses – China’s Campaign of Repression Against Xinjiang’s Muslims;” it gave fresh evidence of Beijing’s “mass arbitrary detention, torture, and mistreatment, and the...

Pakistan-China headed for Massive Shift due to Geopolitical Compulsions

Geopolitical compulsions seem to be bearing down heavily in steering Pakistan- China ‘All Weather Iron Brother Relations’ towards a massive shift in end-2018 whose first indicator has been the less than successful first visit of new Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to Beijing from November 02-05 2018. In end 2018, Pakistan-China relations seems to be headed towards ‘climate change’ and the ‘iron’ that clad this strategic embrace...