Military Power

On attaining independence, the first question that should have continually been thrown up was “What are the infirmities in our character that have made India remain under foreign rule and domination for almost 1000 years- the longest in known history?” An honest answer to this question was critical to help develop the ability to defend [...]

Pakistan’s Duplicity

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, while talking to some TV channels in New Delhi, hoped India will share the outcome of the probe into the Samjhauta Express blast before the March 6 meeting of the Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism so that ‘meaningful contribution’ can be made to the fight against terror. Asked whether the [...]

Time to Unshackle our Shipyards

When Rear Admiral Ganeshan spoke to me about a seminar on Warship Building a few weeks ago, I conveyed the Navy’s wholehearted approval and support because I am convinced that we must open the windows of our mind to new ideas, and undertake serious introspection, if we are to improve our performance. I was, therefore, [...]

Military Lessons: Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-1

A classical response option for a country faced with an externally inspired Low Intensity Conflict (that can drag on for decades) is to conventionalise the conflict. In so doing, its strategic objective is to impose such heavy and deterrent costs on the perpetrators /external sponsors of the Low Intensity Conflict that they are forced to [...]

Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-2 – Israeli Response

The Air Offensive
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) put in a stellar performance in this war. Its prime target system was the known locations of the Hezbollah’s long range rockets like the Raad (45 km range) Fajr 3 (50 km range) Fajr 5 (70 km range) and the Zel Zal 1, 2 and 3 (with 120 [...]

Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-3 – Employment of Special Forces

Israel now escalated to the use of its Special Forces to raid these redoubts across the Lebanese border. 200 personnel of the Israeli Special Forces team of the elite “Sayeret Matkal“ and Sayeret Shaldag“ struck a Hezbollah logistics base at Baalbek in Bekka Valley (150 kms North of the Israeli border). They were helidropped [...]

Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-4 – Weapons Employment Profile

Employment of Anti-Tank Guided Missiles
From the point of view of relevance to our context, the employment of Russian third generation Anti-tank Guided Missiles merits the closest attention. The Israeli made Merkava is said to be the worlds most highly protected/heavily armoured tank. Despite use of Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA), 45 percent of Israeli tanks that [...]

Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-5 – The Rocket Threat

The free rocket threat may not be relevant immediately in the sub continental context. However it is certain that terrorist organisations operating in J&K are likely to draw their lessons form this conflict.

Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-6 – Anti-Rocket Solutions

Alon Ben David says overall some 4228 rockets were fired on Israel at the overall rate of almost 130 rockets a day Actually the rate averaged around 150 – 180 rockets per day for the first 10 days, with as many as 47 being fired in a single salvo. The rate peaked at 380 on [...]

Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part 7 – Major Lessons Learnt

Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-8 – Conclusion

The Israel – Hezbollah conflict has spawned a rich harvest of military lessons that we must analyse and ingest at the earliest. In essence it was an attempt to conventionalise and thereby end a long running Low Intensity Conflict. This aspect merits serious attention from the cost-benefit analysis point of view. The fact that the [...]

No Use of Combat Air Power in 1962

In 1962 as the war clouds gathered over the Himalayan mountains, Indian Army beefed up its defences. As a result IAF was asked to undertake tremendous surge in air maintenance – nearly thrice the normal amount. The air maintenance flying in Sep 1962 was 1179 hours. It increased to 3263 hours in Nov 1962. However, [...]

Women in the Armed Forces

The recent debate about the entry of women officers in the armed forces has been highly ill- informed and subjective in nature. People have taken stands and expressed opinion without analysing the matter in its entirety. It is imprudent to consider it as an issue of equality of sexes or gender bias or even women’s [...]

Women in the Armed Forces: Part 2 Findings of the British Equal Opportunities Commission

A joint survey was carried out by the Ministry of Defence and the Equal Opportunities Commission to determine the nature and extent of sexual harassment and sexualised behaviour in the British armed forces. Sexualised behaviour was described as ‘unwanted sexual contact, sending of explicit material, unwelcome comments and sexual assaults’.

Women in the Armed Forces: Part 3 Sexual Harassment of Women Soldiers in the US

The US society is highly emancipated and liberal with women having equal status in all walks of life. However, the recent case of Specialist Suzanne Swift of 54th Military Police Company has traumatised the entire nation and exposed the degree of ill-treatment meted out to women in the US forces. Swift has declined to serve [...]

Women in the Armed Forces: Part 4 Women Soldiers and the Liberated Societies

During the recent debate over the issue of women’s induction in the Indian defence services, the military brass came under severe criticism for it’s allegedly anti-women bias. Many senior officers are reluctant to have women subordinates because of their concern for their safety and dignity. They are over-cautious in assigning duties to them lest [...]

Women in the Armed Forces: Part 5 The Indian Armed Forces

Despite the historical disruptions and distortions caused by rulers and invaders belonging to other civilizations, the Indian civilisation can boast of not only equality between two sexes but also much beyond as far as the emancipation of women is concerned. Women in India have in fact been conferred superior status. In this country, Sita [...]

Military-Police Relations: The Kolkata Syndrome

The Kolkata incident on the New Years Eve wherein the military and police clashed over the detention of two young army officers belonging to a Madras Unit, which has arrived at a peace station (Kolkata) after a tenure at Siachen, is not an isolated occurrence. Such incidents are an increasing phenomenon and most [...]

Strategic Missiles

The Agni series of strategic missiles were developed as part of Integrated Guided Missile Programme (IGDMP). The IGDMP was launched in 1983 to achieve self-sufficiency in missile capability, with simultaneous development of a wide range of missile: Nag, Prithvi, Akash, Trishul & Agni-Technology Demonstrator. It envisaged common development and reuse of key technologies, and manufacturing [...]

Offsets

For several years, the word “offsets” has been a facet of the large contracts that Ministries of the Government of India have negotiated with multinational corporations. Expectations of offsets have ranged from the euphoric to the sceptical.