Articles By Maj Gen Mrinal Suman
Import of Key Technologies: Need to revisit policy
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 26.2 Apr-Jun 2011 | Date: 02 Jul , 2011
Inaugurating a three-day international seminar on aerospace technologies in Bengaluru on 07 February 2011, Defence Minister Antony admitted that India had not benefitted much from the...
Military Leadership and Trial by Media
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 29 Mar , 2011
Health of democracies is directly proportional to the degree of independence enjoyed by their media. If India thrives as a vibrant democracy, a great deal of credit goes to its media, both...
Defence University for India: an appraisal of the proposition
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 22.4 Oct-Dec 2007 | Date: 25 Mar , 2011
Establishment of a defence university in India was first suggested in an article that appeared in College of Defence Management Journal in 1978. The article evoked considerable interest and was...
Commercial evaluation is the weakest link
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 25.4 Oct-Dec 2010 | Date: 11 Mar , 2011
The Indian defence procurement process consists of two distinct phases – technical and commercial. In the first phase, detailed technical evaluation is carried out of all competing systems to...
Probity in Defence Procurements
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 22.3 Jul-Sep 2007 | Date: 18 Feb , 2011
Defence deals the world over are regularly subjected to intense scrutiny and investigations. Aspersions are often cast about lack of probity and underhand dealings. In Transparency...
India needs independent defence think tanks
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.3 Jul-Sep 2008 | Date: 07 Feb , 2011
During his address at the 42nd Foundation Day function of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), the Vice President of India, Mr M Hamid Ansari stressed the need for structured...
Need for Multi-purpose Demining Systems
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 21.1 Jan-Mar 2006 | Date: 24 Jan , 2011
According to an assessment of the United Nations, there are more than 100 million mines lying buried in various present and past conflict zones in over 60 countries in the world. The...
Defence Purchases: time India asserts itself
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 19 Jan , 2011
Press reports have been highlighting Russian refusal to deliver aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov at the contracted price and within the agreed delivery period. It is demanding more money on the...
Neglect of India's frontier areas
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 24.3 Jul-Sep 2009 | Date: 17 Jan , 2011
Defence Minister of India, Mr AK Antony visited Nathu La in East Sikkim in the first week of December 2007 and was visibly taken aback to see the difference between infrastructure on the Indian...
Middlemen in Defence Procurements
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 22.1 Jan - Mar 2007 | Date: 14 Jan , 2011
The role of middlemen in defence deals has been a subject of intense debate in India for decades now. The recent statement of the Prime Minister that India needs to regulate the functioning of...
Defence Procurements: Need for Accountability Audit
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 25.2 Apr-Jun 2010 | Date: 10 Jan , 2011
Sluggish modernisation of the Indian armed forces has been a cause of serious concern to all who are concerned with national security. Whereas the process of modernisation is lagging behind by 10...
Public Sector: survival through circumventing competition
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 24.2 Apr-Jun 2009 | Date: 07 Jan , 2011
The current equipment profile of the Indian Armed Forces has been a matter of serious disquiet to all those who are concerned with national security issues. Many wonder if India possesses the...
Offsets in US Military Sales
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 05 Jan , 2011
According to some estimates, India is likely to spend close to USD 100 billion on capital acquisitions during the current plan period of 2007-12. Presently, imports account for nearly 70 percent...
Indian Defence Offset Regime: Need for Reforms
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
In any highly competitive trade environment, every seller has to make his offer irresistible and more lucrative than those of others. This is the basic canon of marketing. International defence...
Offset Banking
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
Offset banking implies generation and accumulation of offset credits prior to the award of the main contract. A bank of offset credits is created in anticipation of getting contracts to defray...
Defence Offset Facilitation Agency
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
Defence Offset Facilitation Agency (DOFA) has been established under the Department of Defence Production (DDP) as a single window agency to facilitate implementation of the offset policy of the...
Commonly used terms in Defence Offsets
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
Offsets can broadly be termed as formal arrangements of trade, wherein a foreign supplier undertakes specified programmes with a view to compensate the buyer as regards his procurement...
Strange priorities of the Indian media
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.3 Jul-Sep 2008 | Date: 22 Dec , 2010
An extract of the tribute paid by Rajeev Issar to the Late Major Manish Pitambare dated November 28, 2006 and circulated by email On Tuesday (November 27, 2006), this news swept across all the...
When Commanders Become Bureaucrats
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol. 23.4 Oct-Dec 2008 | Date: 20 Dec , 2010
In late 1980s, an Engineer Regiment was asked to move to high altitude area as part of normal turn over of units. The regiment put in its demand for high altitude clothing for the troops well in...
Defence Offsets: proving detrimental to the services
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 25.1 Jan-Mar 2010 | Date: 13 Dec , 2010
Post Kargil, Indian defence imports had been ranging between three to six billion dollars annually whereas defence exports had been stagnating at meagre 50 million dollars an year. Despite...