Articles in Vol 24.4
Kargil Controversy: Mismanagement of Higher Defence
By: Lt Gen Harwant Singh | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 10 Jul , 2023
During the Second World War the British Army’s operations in Greece ran into near disaster and to save the army, its immediate evacuation by sea became imperative. During this phase of the war,...
India must counter China's imperial ambitions
By: Bharat Verma | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 06 Aug , 2021
First published on IDR print Issue Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009. New Delhi cannot afford to sit around while others plot its destruction. Surrounded with sullied strategic environment and the spreading...
Recollections of the 1971 War
By: Air Marshal Narayan Menon | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 10 Dec , 2019
“Rockline Control from 202, request permission to start-up.” “202 from Rockline Control, standby for permission.” “202 from Rockline, permission denied, vacate cockpits and contact on...
The Rajapaksa Model of Combating Terror
By: VK Shashikumar | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 16 Oct , 2014
Mahinda Rajapaksa, President, Sri Lanka spoke to VK Shashikumar of the Indian Defence Review on a range of issues on August 7, 2009, in an exclusive interview. The Rajapaksa Model of combating...
Arihant: The Annihilator
By: Rear Adm AP Revi | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 03 May , 2014
The launching of the Arihant by the Prime Minister (PM) on 26th July 2009 has hopefully, at last, partially lifted the top security veil over the Advance Technology Vessel (ATV) Project. In that...
Defence PSUs: The Great Betrayal
By: Gp Capt AG Bewoor | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 05 Oct , 2013
When the Saras crashed, killing its crew, the deafening silence in the media, as also from those who know about flight testing, design and manufacture of aeroplanes, and the unforeseen dangers in...
India's Foreign Policy : A Muddle for Sixty Two Years
By: Maj Gen Sheru Thapliyal, PhD | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 17 Aug , 2013
The India-Pakistan joint statement at Sharm-al-Sheikh during the NAM conference in which Balochistan was mentioned for no rational reasons has once again brought into sharp focus, lack of...
China's String of Pearls vs India's Iron Curtain
By: Cmde Ranjit B Rai | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 19 Feb , 2013
“India’s growing international stature gives it strategic relevance in the area ranging from the Persian Gulf to the Straits of Malacca…India has exploited the fluidities of the emerging...
Bows, Arrows and Nuclear Weapons
By: Gp Capt Ajey Lele (Retd.) | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 14 Sep , 2012
Just few years before India got its independence an unhealthy collision took place between the worlds of physics and politics. In 1945 the Americans nuked Japan. Since then in some parts of the...
Line of Actual Control or Contention?
By: Bhashyam Kasturi | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 14 Sep , 2012
India has three important lessons to learn from the recent war hysteria created in the media about Chinese incursions across the Line of Actual Control at several points. These reported incidents...
India-US Relations: Future Trajectory
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 16 Dec , 2011
The confidence of the Indian establishment that India–US relations were set on a steep upward trajectory has eroded noticeably with President Obama replacing President Bush. Even though...
'Is war around the corner?'
By: Vice Admiral Arun Kumar Singh | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 04 Nov , 2011
A few month’s back, Bharat Verma, Editor of the Indian Defence Review, in an article, had predicted that China may attack India by 2012. Frankly, at that time, I did not agree with this...
Maoists and the Armed Forces
By: Gp Capt RK Prasad | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 06 Aug , 2011
Armed forces personnel hailing from the Red Corridor are being subjected to intimidation and extortion by the Maoists for at least two decades now. The families of the servicemen residing in their...
India's Nuclear Doctrine
By: Ali Ahmed | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 04 Apr , 2011
A central tenet of India’s nuclear doctrine is No First Use. India’s is therefore a doctrine of ‘assured retaliation’. The popular understanding of India’s nuclear doctrine is that...
Some reflections on India's Defence Policy
By: Brij Raj Singh | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 31 Mar , 2011
India remembered Kargil a few weeks back. We all recall with pride the sacrifices our soldiers and airmen made in this conflict ten years ago. Kargil no doubt was a military success but it...
The Fragile Af-Pak Policy
By: Prakash Nanda | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 07 Feb , 2011
With each passing day, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the Obama administration’s so-called Af–Pak policy is simply not working. The fraudulent Presidential elections in Afghanistan,...
Chinese incursions, now and then
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 28 Jan , 2011
Chinese incursions have been making headlines in the Indian media. Unfortunately, the Indian leadership prefers to mitigate the facts, to not “hurt feelings of the Chinese” or “make things...
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...
India should suspend work visas for Chinese
By: B Raman | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 10 Jan , 2011
The Hindu has reported on October 1, 2009, that the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi has been issuing visas on a separate sheet of paper to Indian citizens born and resident in Jammu & Kashmir...
Prospects for Democratization in Myanmar: Impact on India
By: David I Steinberg | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 27 Nov , 2010
According to the military junta that rules Myanmar,1 the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is on the cusp of the completion in 2010 of its self-ordained “roadmap” to a form of...