The Asia Pacific regional security interests require the navies of this region to have the ability to respond comprehensively to political or military contingencies, which can arise with little or no warning. An amphibious capability provides the militaries with a range of political response options to apply military force, and project national power. Many countries in the region have recognized the need to augment their amphibious capability in the developing geopolitical environment in the Indian… Read More »Amphibious operations

With so much having been written about the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) for the armed forces; a strong recommendation for it by late K Subrahmanyam in his Kargil War review; and the return to power at the centre of the Bharatiya Janta Party presage the possibility that the CDS will become a reality sooner or later. The confluence of events both internal and external thus appears to be conducive… Read More »Appointment of CDS

The modern battlefield is all about taking risk at a crucial time as the war zone is saturated with mines and high intensity explosives that can spring surprises for armored columns in the midst of a high value operation to secure foot on the ground. The armored vehicles equipped with modern technology can avoid any mistake or casualty by denying the enemy any advantage of its trap that can harm movement of personnel and vehicles… Read More »Combat vehicle

The August 2013 Sindhurakshak and the February 2014 Sindhuratna submarine tragedies are stark reminder of the absence of a deep submergence rescue vessel in Indian Navy. Since the first accident occurred on the harbor, the navy was saved from the responsibility to perform mid sea rescue. Though the Indian Navy possesses one vintage submarine rescue system which is capable of rescuing the crew at depths less than 150 metres, the requirement for the present era… Read More »DSRV for Indian Navy

If it were not for the tragic nature of the situation in which the Ordnance Factories Board and by extension the Artillery Regiment of the Indian Army find themselves it would be comic. After the Bofors scam brought artillery to a near standstill in the country the immaturity of the political classes in India held the nation to ransom for the better part of a quarter century till the fine performance of the weapon during… Read More »Howitzer Acquisition

India has paid a heavy price in human lives both on its borders as well as in the internal security situation to mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) deployed by the Pakistan army on the borders and the Line of Control and by its agents in various crowded localities all over the country. There could be some respite and a great psychological turnaround in counter-insurgency operations in the device created by a laboratory of the… Read More »Mine detection

These days there is an increasing interest in underwater surveillance systems both for military and non-military applications. There seems to be an increasing fear of saboteurs and terrorists going underwater to reach their vicious goals. Locations to be protected may be naval bases, sensitive installations connected with offshore oil-and gas production and transport, nuclear power plants etc. Also concern about the pollution status of the subsea environment is creating a demand for monitoring of this… Read More »Maritime surveillance

For the Indian Army the benchmark for communications appears to have fixated to scenario of the terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008 with the basic tools for operations-the Tactical Communications System and the Battlefield Communications System-absent from the network. It is some small consolation that each of the three Services -Army, Navy and Air Force-have their own networks that have reasonable levels of safety incorporated but talk of jointmanship is more fiction than reality. Jointmanship… Read More »Radio communication