The tactic that helped the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance gain political ascendancy during and after the Rajiv Gandhi involvement in the Bofors howitzer scandal appears set to haunt the Narendra Modi-led NDA in its attempts to buy assault rifles for the Indian Army. Both episodes have but one fatal consequence for the Indian Army and the nation-self-inflicted delays in acquisition. From the un-thought-through advice of then Army Chief Gen KrishnaswamiSundarji to scrap the Bofors deal… Read More »Effective assault rifle

India has long had expertise in creating and using nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons. But it has voluntarily abjured the use of these weapons and has destroyed its biological and chemical weapons stockpiles and facilities in keeping with the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions. However, it has retained and deployed its nuclear weapons with the clear provisos that it would not be the first to use them and (what has hitherto proved to be… Read More »Countering CBRN attacks

In view of recent tremendous efforts made by some leading naval scientists and engineers who are working tirelessly to develop a series of credible unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) technologies, the militaries are looking for new ways to engage the enemy in a 21st century battlefield scenario by using artificial intelligence. All over the world the new trend is to deal with a threat from unmanned platform so that the casualties are less or zero but… Read More »Next revolution in UUV

Modern war zone is full of hazards but military commanders are often worried about the safety of their soldiers and how effectively the operational readiness can be ensured without compromising the swiftness of the battle formations. Indeed, technology is ensuring that unmanned ground vehicles can be handy and operate in most lethal battlefield conditions without any pause despite the fact that it can be targeted by the enemy cross fire and aerial assault. These days… Read More »Use of UGV in warzone

In modern war, the role of precision guided munition is increasingly being optimized by the military commanders to avoid collateral damages which helps overcoming the pitfall of public opinion as war causes lot of unwanted damages. In fact, the evolution of new technologies has, in many ways, changed what defines a precision weapon. For the first quarter of the 21st Century, the military commanders are looking not only for weapons that can hit a specific… Read More »Precision guided munition

It is the height of irony that a Navy that is far short in weapons platforms that it requires to defend the nation should find itself confronted with a mismatch between arrival of platform and delivery of sensors and subsystems. If we have one we don’t have the other appears to be the ongoing syndrome for Indian Navy. For example, India has floated the first of the Scorpene class of French submarines but it has… Read More »Development of torpedoes

Ever since the escape of more than 500 Taliban fighters from a high security prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in April 2011 through a sophisticated tunnel built from the outside I had predicted that the technology would be used by Pakistan to cut tunnels into India under the barbedwire fence that had been erected from Gujarat in the south to Jammu and Kashmir in the north. The logic for this prediction was that Pakistan enjoyed very… Read More »Art of tunneling

Conceived as an armored adjunct to the main battle tank for rapid manoeuvre warfare in the mechanized infantry mode the infantry combat vehicle is fast acquiring acceptability in the urban guerrilla warfare counter-insurgency format. Created to induct ‘boots on the ground’ to capture and hold territory the intention was to ensure that both elements moved in close support of each other and were thus required to be both armored and able to maintain a cross-country… Read More »Infantry combat vehicle

The procurement of Intermediate Jet Trainers for the Indian Air Force has once again crashed into the shoal of an inadequate engine, an inherent asymmetry in the superstructure, and the proverbial monopolistic instincts of the sole aircraft manufacturer, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Once again, for the umpteenth time, a foreign engine was acquired to build the urgently required Intermediate Jet Trainer. A French Snecma engine was chosen. It proved to be under-powered. A more powerful… Read More »Trainer aircraft requiremen

Russian military scientists are on the verge of making a new type of undersea weapon, looking like a submarine drone, that can travel undetected underwater and launch strikes in deep sea and at ports as well as coastal targets. This weapon which Russia is building could be a drone submarine to deliver large-scale nuclear weapons against harbors and coastal cities as some Pentagon officials believe is a new concept. The developmental unmanned underwater vehicle, or… Read More »A new submarine