Indian Defence Review

Is the Indian Soldier Overloaded?: Right Sizing the Armed Forces

It is of interest that we have consistently maintained armed forces that give one soldier to support a population of about 900 persons. This gives us a metric or at least some view of how to come up with the size of the armed forces. Let us say the armed forces of a nation should have as many numbers of active soldiers...

Securing the Indian Skies

The face-saving reprisal by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in response to the Indian Air Force (IAF) aerial strike on February 26, 2019, against a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) training camp near Balakot in Pakistan, has served to emphasize the issue of securing the Indian skies. Implicit to this issue is the defence against an...

India and US – Rising Bonhomie

The just concluded Indo-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was held in backdrop of an increasingly aggressive China who also caused a global pandemic by triggering the Wuhan virus that has claimed over one million lives. It initiated the aggression in Eastern Ladakh, with an arrogant Chinese regime and media indulging in...

India and US – Rising Bonhomie

The Myths and Lies being spread by Gupkaris

Dr Farooq Abdullah and his other colleagues are busy spreading certain myths and lies in order to regain the lost sympathies of the people who have displayed open hatred for them for the miseries thrust upon them while in power. It is being done in the hope that repeated lies may convince the people of their innocence...

New “START” Renewal Hits an Impasse

Post-World War I, Germany was forced to disarm. But during 1930s, Germany again became belligerent and the world suffered in World War 2. Post-World War 1, Germany’s weapons were destroyed but the underlying causes of conflict were not. This example illustrates that that there is no simple “cause and effect”...

Is the Indian Soldier Overloaded?: Right Sizing the Armed Forces

Securing the Indian Skies

Air Defence of India: Evolving Options

Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) attempted a large force ‘reposte’ on February 27, 2019, in response to Indian Air Force’s (IAF) deep air strikes on targets in Balakot. The PAF launched a 24-aircraft force comprising F-16, JF-17 and Mirage-V in a wide area on India’s Western border in broad daylight. They included...

Kashmir: Self appointed, self serving leadership is now in self preservation mode

In the wake of the bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and abrogation of Article 370, the political structures in Kashmir that were aligned with separatism and soft separatism have been left without viable agendas. Articulation on the subject can draw a lead from the “Gupkar Declaration” of 4 August, 2019....

The Islamic State Footprints are all over India

There are some very significant indicators, which indicate the widespread footprints of the Islamic State in India. Recently in Bengaluru, a 28 year old ophthalmologist, Abdur Rehman, was arrested by the NIA for his links with the Islamic State. In 2014, soon after completion of his MBBS, Rehman had travelled all the...

Gupkar Declaration 2.0

Not content with anti-national, seditious, pro-separatist Gupkar Declaration signed on 04 August 2019, a day prior to the historical announcement of Modi Government, the six leaders of Kashmir centric political parties including the descendant of Indian National Congress, Nehru-Gandhi Congress, have again issued a new...

Complexification and Public-Private Positioning in the Land Forces Armament Sector

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, restructuring has pervaded the land forces defense industry. Without the needs demanded by such a threat, a transformation precipitated in the Western industrial apparatus. Land defense systems have become increasingly complex, while economic conditions have altered the industry...

Thales Partnering with the Indian Air Force for a better tomorrow, today

With initiatives and policy decisions on several fronts, India is marching steadfastly towards an era of Atmanirbharta. The country has shown will and muscle to become a global manufacturing huband lead the modernization of the armed forces. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is historically known to providing the country with...

Indian Defence Private Sector: Some Initial Successes Yet Miles To Go

The much publicised Strategic Partnership Model (SPM) launched with a laudable aim to allow the growth of the private sector through the route of Joint Ventures with foreign OEMs failed to deliver initially due to lack of clarity on many issues. The SPM, from the word ‘Go’, was put through so many amendments that it...

Make in India 5G Ecosystem

According to the US Department of State, 40 countries and 50 telcos have already signed to America’s ‘5G Clean...

India at 73 Engaging the World: India’s Relations with South Asian Nations

At 73, one is thought to be old and wise in one’s ways, have difficulty in changing, but a nation like India at...

US Arms Sales to Taiwan and China’s International Isolation

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is lamenting that post Covid 19, it has become the world’s punching bag. The recent denouncement of China’s Communist Party in a media interview on the sidelines of the 2 plus 2 dialogue- by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was on an official visit to India as also some other nations within the Indian Ocean rim, have annoyed and unnerved...

‘Flag Politics’ in Kashmir

Flag politics which seems to have become the new norm in Kashmir is perhaps a diversion manufactured by politicians who have nothing meaningful to offer to the people as is evident from PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s first press conference on October 23 after her release from a...

Indo-China War 1962: Tears of River Nam Ka Chu

My name is Nam Ka Chu, my origin is from Twin reservoirs of Tsangle located at 17000 feet on the Tri-junction of Bhutan, Tibet and India. I flow in the west of District Kameng adjoining the Indo-Bhutan border in North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) about 25 kms north of Tawang...

About the Land Dispute with Nepal

On May 8, 2020, an argument erupted between India and Nepal; the immediate reason which triggered the debate was an 80 km road between Darchula to Lipulekh, the border pass near the trijunction with Tibet and Nepal, inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The road is to be...

Protests in Pakistan

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of all major opposition political parties, launched recently with Maulana Fazlur Rehman as its head, has already shaken the establishment. As per Pakistan’s Express Tribune, all its rallies ‘attracted tens of thousands of protesters. ‘Nawaz Sharif addressed the first rally at Gujranwala from London and accused the Pakistan army chief, General Bajwa, and the Director General ISI, Faiz...