Articles By Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja
North Korea – A Delinquent State?
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Vol. 32.3 Jul-Sep 2017 | Date: 22 Sep , 2017
Diplomacy has failed because North Korea remains determined to build its nuclear arsenal. Resuming talks would achieve nothing, when it is so close to attaining an effective arsenal. North Korea...
Middle East Boils Over Qatar
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 28 Jul , 2017
The Middle East has never been a picture of stability, much to the chagrin and worry of the world. The region, however, has had some semblance of order for the last seven to eight decades or so...
Indo-US Relations in 100 Days of Trump and Thereafter
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 22 Jun , 2017
In the closing stages of the primaries in USA, Ms Hillary Clinton, would not have seen herself, in her wildest of dreams, out of the Oval Office in the White House. President Donald trump...
The Indian Air Force: 2020 and Beyond
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Vol. 32.1 Jan-Mar 2017 | Date: 14 Feb , 2017
Formally established on 08 October 1932, the IAF will be celebrating its centenary of extraordinary service to the nation, in 2032. Beginning with just four Wapiti aircraft and six pilots, the...
Indo-US Relations : Will They be Trumped
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 08 Feb , 2017
India has an opportunity, and should seize it, without delay or any hedging. This does not mean going along with whatever President Trump says. If he wishes to pursue an “America First”...
Oil - Gainers and Losers
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 22 Jan , 2017
Introduction A fluctuation in the world oil market manifests itself on nations in a myriad of ways; an increase in the price leads to inflation in the oil-importing nations, whereas...
Predicting 2017
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 06 Jan , 2017
2016 was a bizarre year in many ways, and if one thought it cannot get anymore bumpy, one is for a surprise. The new-year, 2017, appears to be one year that the world and India needs to be...
Media and National Security
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 23 Nov , 2016
Is there malaise that ails the Indian media today? Yes, and the disease is in both print and visual media, which have undergone a transformation for the worse! Is it the downgrading of the...
Surgical Strike: Would Pakistan have learnt its lesson?
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 02 Oct , 2016
It was in the wee hours of 18 Sep 2016 that four heavily armed terrorists, who had earlier infiltrated across the Line of Control (LOC), in the Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), attacked an...
Vietnam: The Rising Asian Tiger
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 18 Aug , 2016
Vietnam can prove to be a good buffer to contain China in the South China Sea, if India plays its cards well. In the process of strengthening relations with neighbouring nations, India has...
Transportation Infrastructure in the North East
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Vol. 31.2 Apr-Jun 2016 | Date: 04 Aug , 2016
The North East is located at a crossroads between three major economies – East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. This geopolitical advantage, has however, not really translated into the...
24 June 2016 : NSG, BREXIT, SCO and India
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 30 Jun , 2016
The date of 24 June 2016 will remain in one’s memory for quite some time. It was on this day that the results of many a diplomatic campaign were announced, to the disappointment of a few,...
NSG and India – Ease or Unease
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 20 Jun , 2016
There is palpable excitement in the air in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and within the strategic community. The reason is not too difficult to guess. The PM has once again been on a...
Myanmar Joins the Mainstream of International Relations
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 10 May , 2016
The culmination of the general elections in Myanmar last November, and thereafter the election of a civilian president after five decades of army rule, has brought Myanmar back into the world...
MSMEs in Defence Production: A Neglected Sector
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Vol. 30.4 Oct-Dec 2015 | Date: 25 Mar , 2016
The defence industry, more so the aviation sector has been in a state of excitement ever since the announcement was made of “Make in India” with policies to support the slogan. The FDI limits...
South and Southeast Asia : A Peep into The Future
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 26 Feb , 2016
Predicting the future in a confusing security environment is a challenge; with all the present fusions and fissions, it becomes even more challenging. The consistencies and inconsistencies, always,...
The Middle East: An Assessment
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Vol. 30.3 Jul-Sep 2015 | Date: 21 Dec , 2015
Secularism in the Muslim world appears to be in terminal retreat. The two levels of struggle within that world are, first, Sunni versus Shiite, and second, complex, and interacting factions. The...
India’s Self-Reliance in Military Aerospace Industry
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Vol. 30.2 Apr-Jun 2015 | Date: 14 Sep , 2015
Having learnt a lesson from the 1990s, the Government of India (GoI) has since laid emphasis on indigenisation of the defence industry with a number of measures initiated in this direction. The...
Combat Fleet of the IAF: Present and Future
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Vol. 30.1 Jan-Mar 2015 | Date: 08 May , 2015
Combat aircraft constitute the cutting edge of any air force and so it is with the IAF as well. Modernisation and upgradation of combat platforms are ongoing processes that will help the IAF...
Indigenisation of the Indian Aerospace Industry
By: Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja | Issue: Vol. 29.1 Jan-Mar 2014 | Date: 08 Mar , 2015
A National Aerospace Policy, that caters to the interests of all stakeholders, duly synchronised where necessary, is the need of the hour along with an Aeronautics Commission and a dedicated...