Articles in Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016
Army Aviation – The Arm of the Future?
By: Lt Gen BS Pawar | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 01 Mar , 2018
The Aviation Arm of the Indian Army today is nowhere near the one envisaged in 1963 or as has been projected in the Indian Army’s perspective plans over the years and lacks some vital elements...
The Submarine Arm of the Indian Navy
By: Cmde Arun Kumar | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 09 Mar , 2017
The submarine arm of the Indian Navy is in its 50th year of existence. From a small force of Foxtrot class, it leapfrogged into high tech boats in just 25 years of its coming into being. By then...
Multiple Origin Fleet: Complexities for the IAF
By: Air Marshal Anil Chopra | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 06 Mar , 2017
India has learned the hard way that a unilateral desire for peace cannot bring about peace. A country can enjoy peace only if it can defend peace. The US offer of the most high-end weapon systems...
South China Sea Imbroglio: PLA’s Grand Strategy of ‘Unrestricted Warfare’
By: Maj Gen Rajiv Narayanan, AVSM, VSM | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 23 Feb , 2017
For India, these are crucial times, and it should ensure ASEAN solidarity and a joint response to this imbroglio, a united front of South China Sea claimants (the Philippines, Vietnam,...
Confronting Modern Air Threat
By: Maj Gen AK Mehra | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 16 Feb , 2017
Countering an emerging, modern multi-vector and multi-element air threat will need a modern air force and an equally modern ground-based, air defence system based on modern missiles and guns....
Airborne Electronic Warfare: Silent Force Multiplier
By: Air Marshal Anil Chopra | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 14 Feb , 2017
Evolution of the radio/radar/TV/laser brought in a domain of warfare called the Electronic Warfare (EW). This invisible silent ‘Killer’ was meant to degrade the enemy sensors and weapons....
Spurring the Growth of Civil Aviation & Defence Aerospace in India
By: Sqn Ldr Vijainder K Thakur | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 07 Feb , 2017
India has never attempted to formulate a national vision for aerospace. Now is perhaps the time to do so. Propulsion, materials and avionics technologies are closely guarded secrets. The...
India-China Relations: Any Way Forward?
By: Sumant Dhamija | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 04 Feb , 2017
It has been said that engaging China is like trying to wake someone pretending to be asleep. Certainly it involves trying to be neighbourly with a country that does not desire friendship. But...
Tiered Defence: Putting the SAM in Perspective
By: Lt Gen (Dr) VK Saxena (Retd.) | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 23 Jan , 2017
There are questions as to why Ground Based Air Defence Weapon Systems (GBADWS) must be deployed in a layered and tiered fashion to provide an optimal degree of air defence cover to the assets...
Nicobar as an IAF base in the Indian Ocean: Strategic Asset or Liability?
By: Special Correspondent | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 21 Jan , 2017
The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is slowly but surely turning out to be an area where there would be or perhaps there already is a conflict of interest between China and India. At the opening of the...
Government’s New Defence Initiative: Committee of Experts
By: Lt Gen Gautam Banerjee | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 19 Jan , 2017
In convening the Review, the MoD has treaded a path of wisdom and it needs to be congratulated on this initiative. But to ensure that the path is not lost to wilderness, it needs to be considered...
INS Mormugao in the Series of Indian Naval Destroyers
By: Danvir Singh | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 30 Dec , 2016
The Indian Navy has 41 vessels of various types under construction including; an aircraft carrier, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, conventional and nuclear-powered submarines. The Indian...
Emerging Threat of Grassroots Terrorism and Lone Wolf Actors in India
By: Dr V Balasubramaniyan | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 20 Dec , 2016
Grassroots terrorism which is defined as organisational de-evolution of terrorist groups into single actor or small actor networks is one of the recent phenomena witnessed in larger and older...
Insurgency in The Northeast: Is there Light at the End of the Tunnel?
By: Maj Gen Sheru Thapliyal, PhD | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 17 Dec , 2016
When the Constitution was framed, a sub-committee headed by Gopinath Bordoloi was appointed to examine and recommend the constitutional arrangements that would fulfill the aspirations of the...
‘Deep Operations’ Theory: 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War
By: Col JK Achuthan (Retd.) | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 15 Dec , 2016
The need to understand the mechanics of conduct of ‘Deep Operations’ is paramount while undertaking offensive operations. “Limited War” and “Limited Objectives” are mindsets of the...
Scorpene Leak: Why the Navy Ought to Perturbed and not Paranoid
By: Cmde CP Srivastava | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 14 Dec , 2016
The genre of the information leaked, as can be gleaned by the few pages published indicates that the information pertains to the ‘as designed’ capabilities of the platform, as was known in...
Implications of Terror Strike in Dhaka
By: Dr N Manoharan & Dr Bidanda Chengappa | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 13 Dec , 2016
The political leadership in the border state of West Bengal has to realise that vote bank politics to encourage Bangladeshi migrants has already threatened national security interests....
Hegemonic Global Competition in the 21st Century
By: Lt Gen HPS Klair | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 10 Dec , 2016
It is evident that the Great Power rivalry of the 21st Century has begun, which in Mackinder’s words, “Man and not nature initiates, but nature in large measure controls.” His prediction of...
Its not Pakistan, Its Kashmir...!
By: Alpana Kishore | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 09 Dec , 2016
Indian policy makers could do well to adopt it in their prescriptions for the perpetual hostilities at the border. Since 1947, Pakistan has almost completely occupied India’s strategic...
Same Country, Same Army, Same Enemy but now a Different Result
By: Lt Gen (Dr) JS Bajwa | Issue: Vol. 31.4 Oct-Dec 2016 | Date: 07 Dec , 2016
“A nation that will insist on drawing a broad line between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and thinking done by cowards.” — Sir William...