Terrorism and Indian Ambivalence

Well over five decades, India has been combating insurgencies, militancy, and terrorism. Its security forces have been extensively employed to firefight such situations- erupting after years of simmering-but invariably catching the Indian leadership off guard. The Indian Army too has been at it, at the cost of its primary role, i.e. fighting external aggression.

Security Threats Facing India

Threats are a matter of perception. Their assessments take into account capacities, not so much intentions, of a potential adversary. For an accurate reading, the short term and long term objectives of all leading players in the world have to be judged.

Militarization of Space

Use of ‘outer space’ (also referred as ‘space’) to fight wars is not a new idea. Rockets reaching high into the atmosphere was talked about since World War II. The investments made by the Nazi’s towards development of such rockets are well known. In the 1960s, the erstwhile USSR had an orbital weapon called a [...]

The Jihadi War

The lack of success in operation enduring Freedom in Afghanistan results from the US-led coalition’s failure to develop and implement, jointly, a coherent strategy for its conduct that integrates counter-insurgency, counterterrorism, and stability and reconstruction operations. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), internal cohesion for development of the Afghanistan operation, is becoming increasingly fragile.

Use of Irregulars: Bane for the Pakistan Army

The extensive use of irregulars and jihadis to incorporate J&K into Pakistan is not a machination adopted by Zia, as is generally believed. This has been a part of Pakistan’s strategic thinking since the 50s. In a review of the book, Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru (1 May-31 July 1957), Second Series, Volume 38, edited [...]

Indian Coast Guard – 2020

Being an “open” service, the force levels and roles of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) are available on its official website. A summary of the ICGs (75 vessels and 44 aircrafts) duties as laid down in the Coast Guard Act 1978 are -

Threat from China

New Delhi’s portrayal of the humiliating defeat at the hands of Chinese in 1962  as ‘betrayal’ and ‘surprise’ is untrue. The pacifist Indian leadership that was crying hoarse from rooftops for friendship at any cost remained blind to Communist China’s repeated claims on Tibet and large part of Indian territories. Mao termed Tibet as the palm [...]

Norththrop Grumman in India

Globalization has become a mantra of the 21st Century economic model, and high technology has become one of the vehicles for its implementation, particularly in the defence sector.  Fewer and fewer complex military systems are being developed only to fill national requirements because their development is simply too costly to justify production in limited quantities. [...]

Himalayan Rivers: Geopolitics and Strategic Perspectives

On October 7, 1950 the PLA’s Second Field Army marched into Eastern Tibet to ‘liberate’ the Roof of the World. Several factors can explain this move.A few days after the beginning of the invasion, the Xinhua News Agency issued a communiqué that the PLA would soon achieve “the task of marching into Tibet to liberate [...]

Ahmedinejad’s Visit

In response to an invitation issued by President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka during his visit  to Teheran in November, 2007, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran paid a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka on April 28 and 29, 2008.
Since last year, Sri Lanka has been facing  economic difficulties due to the drying-up of economic [...]