Articles By Maj Gen S G Vombatkere
US Boots-on-the-Ground in India?: Focus on Afghanistan
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 20 Sep , 2021
The US Administration is embarrassed by its capitulation to Taliban (signing a peace treaty with Taliban at Doha, February 2020, to allow withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan), the sudden...
Defence Preparedness: Inconvenient truths
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 10 Oct , 2018
Pakistan carries the “hurt” of its 1971 loss of East Pakistan, while China, with memory of its successful 1962 adventure, has its hegemonic aim of becoming the world’s dominant economic and...
Cyber Security: Civil and Military Implications
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Vol. 33.1 Jan-Mar 2018 | Date: 06 Apr , 2018
The capability of India’s matchless troops in on-the-ground, blood-and-guts fighting is legendary. But if operational logistics is compromised in advance by a hostile military, wars may be lost...
Values in the Army
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 24 Apr , 2016
Wars, the product of forces in the international political stratosphere, are prosecuted by generals who are usually far from the battle-front. Battles are fought by middle-rank and junior...
Security beyond the Pathankot Attack
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 15 Jan , 2016
The Pathankot IAF base is near the border with Pakistan. A Pakistani terrorist squad entered the air force base in the wee hours of 2016 New Year Day by crossing the security wall, and hid...
Is the 'Babu' scared of veterans’ skills?
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Date: 31 May , 2015
Under the banner of IESM (Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Movement), India’s armed forces veterans propose a nation-wide movement, starting with a rally on December 1, 2012, at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi....
Demilitarizing Siachen: Trading Strategic Advantage for Brownie Points
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 22 May , 2014
The troubled India-Pakistan relationship has been punctuated by four military conflicts and decades-long military face-off across the IB and LOC, the most recent starting in 1984 on Siachen...
India's Open Secrets: Effects on sovereignty and democracy
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 06 Sep , 2013
American spying challenges comprise three categories, namely, friends, enemies and problems. The top two challenges are Brazil and Egypt. That India is No.3 challenge to U.S intelligence1 is...
Joining the Security Dots: Cyber Security, Surveillance and Democracy
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 06 Jul , 2013
Edward Snowden, in his courageous, principled expose, has brought out how USA’s National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying on most nations in the world. This spying is clearly to establish or...
Have Indian troops abandoned Indian territory?
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 08 May , 2013
The incursion by Chinese troops into the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector of Ladakh on 15 April 2013 by erecting and occupying tents was responded to on the ground by Indian troops erecting tents...
AFSPA: Misconceptions and Ground Realities
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 12 Mar , 2013
Sanjoy Hazarika1 and Walter Fernandes2 bring out the justifiable opposition to AFSPA felt by people from our northeastern states where it was first imposed in 1958. The provocation for both...
India and Pakistan: Between Hawks and Peaceniks, is there a middle path?
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Date: 17 Jan , 2013
The beheading and mutilation of the bodies of L/Nk Hemraj and L/Nk Sudarshan Singh by Pakistani soldiers on January 8, 2013, is yet another barbaric act by Pakistan’s army, following several...
AFSPA: Who wants the military for internal security?
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 04 Dec , 2012
Parliament and Government Government can function in the interest of people only when there is peace and order in society, persons in power use people-oriented politics, and the rule of law is...
Lessons from 1962: Is 50 years not enough?
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 13 Nov , 2012
Institutions and nations rarely if ever learn from successes, but it is possible and necessary to learn from institutional or national failure. This is particularly true of military operations....
Rational National Security
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 05 Nov , 2012
Specifically, defence preparedness is the direct responsibility of the Prime Minister and the National Security Council (NSC), which need to receive accurate advice from the country’s military...
The Siachen Imbroglio
By: Maj Gen S G Vombatkere | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 20 Jun , 2012
The title and contents of Mr.A.G.Noorani’s article “Settle the Siachen dispute now“1 strongly suggest peace-by-demilitarization of Siachen on an immediate basis. His quest for peace is...