Articles in Courtesy: IDSA

Unpacking UK Combat Air Strategy
By: Gp Capt Kishore Kumar Khera, VM | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 25 Jul , 2018
On July 16, 2018, the opening day of the Farnborough Air Show, UK Secretary of State for Defence unveiled the UK Combat Air Strategy (CAS).1 Alongside, in a significant move, a plan to develop a...

Iran Sanctions: India’s Options
By: Shebonti Ray Dadwal | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 16 Jul , 2018
Once again, India is caught in the middle of a conflict between the US and Iran. During the earlier round of sanctions, India had succeeded in deftly manoeuvring through the sanctions regime,...

Averting India’s Fall into a Geopolitical Trap
By: Ambassador P Stobdan | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 12 Jul , 2018
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a foreign policy course-correction after realising that the strategic tilt towards the United States has not only grossly upset India’s geopolitical image...

Return of the Persian Puzzle
By: PR Kumaraswamy | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 06 Jul , 2018
Iran is back in the news and for all the wrong reasons. It has been the unnecessary third wheel in Indo-US relations and vice versa. Like other countries in the Gulf region, Iran is more than an...

Unmanned Trans-Atlantic Journey - A New Beginning
By: Gp Capt Kishore Kumar Khera, VM | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 04 Jul , 2018
Crossing oceans is challenging, fascinating and satisfying. The westward voyage of the Christopher Columbus-led three-ship fleet from Europe in 1492 established the first link between America and...

Keeping India-US Defence Ties on Even Keel despite CAATSA
By: Amit Cowshish | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 20 Jun , 2018
The Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), passed by the US Congress in August 2017 has placed India in a bind. The Act, which came into effect in January 2018,...

Implications of CAATSA for India’s Defence Relations with Russia and America
By: Laxman K Behera and G Balachandran | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 14 May , 2018
Recent reports have highlighted that India’s planned defence procurement from Russia could potentially come under US sanctions under a newly enacted law, Countering America’s Adversaries...

India and China – Time for a Dialogue on Nuclear Security?
By: Rukmani Gupta | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 29 Apr , 2018
Discussions on nuclear security in South Asia generally focus on the India-Pakistan relationship. Given the volatile military equation and frequent sabre-rattling between these two neighbours,...

Defence Investor Cell Needs Fleshing Out
By: Amit Cowshish | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 27 Apr , 2018
The Department of Defence Production (DDP) has set up a Defence Investor Cell under the chairmanship of a Joint Secretary. The office order issued by DDP in February 2018 has assigned...

Creation of Defence Planning Committee: A Step towards Credible Defence...
By: Laxman K Behera | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 21 Apr , 2018
In a significant defence policy reform notified on April 18, 2018, the government has revamped the existing defence planning system by establishing a Defence Planning Committee (DPC) under the...

Defence Budget: Beyond the Numbers
By: Amit Cowshish | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 18 Apr , 2018
As reported by the Times of India on April 04, this year’s discussion on the general budget in parliament will go down in history as the shortest since 2000 with both houses collectively...

Will North Korea Denuclearise?
By: Ashok Sajjanhar | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 14 Apr , 2018
The short and simple answer to the question ‘’Will North Korea Denuclearise?’’ is ‘’Unlikely.’’ This, notwithstanding the assertions that the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un...

DefExpo 2018: Making India a Defence Manufacturing Hub and an Exporter of Arms
By: Amit Cowshish | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 11 Apr , 2018
As DefExpo 2018 gets underway at Thiruvidanthai near Chennai from April 11, all attention will be turned towards the defence minister’s press briefing on the first day and the prime minister’s...

Promises Galore in the Draft Defence Production Policy 2018
By: Amit Cowshish | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 04 Apr , 2018
Following up on the announcement made by the finance minister in his budget speech on February 1, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has recently released the draft of a new defence production...

Return the Favour with a Thousand Cuts: India’s Pakistan Policy
By: Col Vivek Chadha (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 26 Mar , 2018
During the last couple of years, India has recalibrated its policy towards Pakistan by adopting a two-pronged approach. One prong consists of not holding formal talks until Pakistan stops using...

Cabinet Decides to Redefine MSMEs – Defence Sector to Benefit
By: Amit Cowshish | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 16 Mar , 2018
A seminal decision taken by the Union Cabinet in early February 2018 to change the basis of classification of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) bodes well for this important segment...

India-Jordan Relations: An Ascendant Partnership
By: Ashok Sajjanhar | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 01 Mar , 2018
The three-day visit by King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan to India starting February 27, 2018 is testimony that India’s “Think West” policy, like its “Act East” initiative, is...

India and Iran Resolve to Focus on Connectivity and Economic Cooperation
By: Ashok Sajjanhar | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 21 Feb , 2018
The three-day visit of Hassan Rouhani to India, his first after becoming President in 2013, is testimony that India’s ”Think West” Policy, like its ”Act East” Policy, is thriving and blooming....

Maldives Needs Help Now and India Alone Can Provide it
By: Brig Rumel Dahiya, (Retd) | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 09 Feb , 2018
Instability in Maldives is a matter of concern not only for that country but for the region as a whole. India has the highest stakes in maintaining stability in Maldives. The country’s...

Defence Budget 2018-19: The Imperative of Controlling Manpower Cost
By: Laxman K Behera | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 04 Feb , 2018
Presenting the last full-fledged budget before the general elections of 2019, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs 4,04,365 crore (US $62.8 billion) for the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Of...