Indian Defence Review

The Unmanned Battlefield Helicopter

The term ‘battlefield helicopter’ continues to live on and conjure up visions of sleek, fierce looking rotary-wing craft shrieking their way over friendly forces on the ground. Since the 1930s, the helicopter has made its presence felt in the battlefield. It began as a casualty evacuation tool, but has incrementally...

Maldives needs concerted Indian engagement

The defeat of Abdulla Yameen and emergence of Mohammad Solih, consensus candidate of the joint opposition, emerging winner in the recent presidential election was a stroke of luck for India and somewhat disappointing for China. Now Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Maldives to attend the swearing in...

Emperor Lalitaditya: One Among India’s Greatest Soldier-Statesmen

With the ascendance of the Karkotta dynasty, the Hindu Kingdom of Kashmir reached great heights of power and prestige. Its influence and fame spread far and wide, in the process, attracting respect and receiving tribute from neighboring states/kingdoms. Durlabh Vardana extended his kingdom to Poonch, Rajauri, Taxila and...

Maldives needs concerted Indian engagement

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...

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...

The Unmanned Battlefield Helicopter

Awakening to National Defence: Hope at Last?

Clausewitz had prophesized that it was mandatory for a nation’s political leadership to possess a fair understanding of the profession of arms. For the military institution to deliver commensurate to the resources committed to its war-worthiness, the Ministry has to free itself from abject dependency upon archaic...

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...

Emperor Lalitaditya: One Among India’s Greatest Soldier-Statesmen

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...

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...

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)...

Kashmir Diary

I recently travelled to Kashmir valley in the month of October of 2018. And this must have been the nth time that I...

Maldives: Solih Takes Over- The Challenges ahead

On November 17th, Solih took over as the seventh President of Maldives in a glittering ceremony at the Galolhu...

Pakistan’s Dream to be Ottoman Empire East of Middle East a Strategic Miscalculation

Pakistan’s desire to become the leader of the Islamic World has its roots in the history of the Ottoman Empire that survived for seven centuries. Post-Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, a perception got created in the minds of Pakistani leadership that Jihad is a powerful tool of waging war against the adversary in the name of Islam. Pakistan imbibed the strategy of Jihad from the Ottoman...

Drug menace in Kashmir: A challenge that merits serious attention

The foreign sponsored violence in Kashmir and the resultant trauma caused, especially to the youth, has largely remained unaddressed. Lack of focused healthcare services and increased proliferation of drugs has exacerbated the problems multi-fold. Drug addiction has been on the...

India-Japan Relations: Proximity to the Indo-Pacific Strategy

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his third visit to Japan on 28-29 October 2018 to attend 13th Annual Summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Both countries reiterated their commitment to the Special Strategic and Global Partnership and issued a vision statement...

Communists rule in Nepal - but not the Chinese way

Nepal is among a handful of states in the world ruled by communists. While multiparty democracy and parliamentary politics may not sound synonymous to communism, Nepal’s case might be unique in the sense that the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) rose to power by winning the...

Northern Army Commander exudes confidence of positive environment emerging in J&K

Army Commander, Northern Command, Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, has sent a clear message to Pakistan that it will be punished for any activities that are detrimental to security interests of India. “There have been sniping incidents across the Line of Control (LOC) and we have regularly protested with our Pakistani counterparts about the activity of sniping and wherever they have carried out ceasefire violation we have given them a befitting...