Vikramaditya: Indian Navy enters a new era The saga of much delayed and talked about controversial project of Indian Navy is going to be over now. Indian Navy is now in possession of a gigantic warship to boast of. The handing over of the INS Vikramaditya (ex-Admiral Gorshkov), to Indian Defence Minister A K Antony at a gala ceremony attended by the Russian defence minister and top defence functionaries at the Russian Sevmash shipyard on… Read More »Ocean domination

Indian MoD’s careless attitude is affecting preparedness The Indian defence establishment is suffering from not one but several malaise, which is seriously hampering the modernization of the armed forces. No government in the world can tolerate corrupt means to influence an acquisition decision but the way Indian MoD asks the potential suppliers to adhere to the integrity pact before concluding a deal agreement has made a mockery of Indian defence establishment world over. This has… Read More »Weak leadership

India facing heat of aggressive military diplomacy After lulling India into slumber with its Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA), the Chinese have done something that was typical of its foreign policy-it announced a ‘no fly zone’ over the disputed islands of Senkaku/Diaoyu which is currently under Japanese control but is claimed to be part of a Chinese Emperor’s empire in ancient times. Taken within the confines of Sino-Japanese relations it would be seen as another… Read More »Asserting control

Irrelevance of CHOGM summit No matter how eloquently a justification for the existence of an organization like Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is presented, its vagueness and futility cannot be underestimated. No one has a clear idea, except Britain, why such a grouping exists and what it exactly promotes. Although to its members it is a voluntary association of independent states in the enterprise of promoting democracy, good government, human rights and economic development,… Read More »Glorifying slavery

India’s transport fleet and heavy lift capability With China showcasing early this year two prototypes of heavy lift intercontinental range transport aircraft Y-20 alleged to be a copy of the C-17 Globemaster model, though little smaller and also working on 500 kms speed Blue Whale tilt rotor helicopter with a payload of 30 tons Indian air force seems to be years behind the strategic airlift capability of the Chinese PLAAF. However, the IAF is trying… Read More »Strategic reach

BMP modernization and fire control system To be able to foreclose a war in quick time as it did against Pakistan in 1971, India is preparing to refurbish one means of achieving “combat mobility”-the essence of swift decimation of the enemy and an implacable momentum-on the battlefield. Its 2,000 infantry combat vehicles are set to be upgraded through a combination of battlefield experience and competence-building in technological skills over the years since the Defence Research… Read More »Keeping pace

Countering Chinese game plan on Brahmaputra river Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prepared to leave for talks in Beijing there were disconcerting reports that China would not put the dam over the Brahmaputra river on the agenda. It topped it up with, once again, issuing stapled visas to Indian citizens from Arunachal Pradesh. India will have to temper its diplomacy to deal with such gauche behavior and stop accepting at face value whatever the… Read More »Controlling disaster

Violations at LoC and Pakistan’s game plan Even as a larger geopolitical game plan to drag in foreign interlocutors into the Kashmir issue is being played out, the issue of better management of the Indian defence perimeter along both the international border and the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan and the Line of Actual Control with China has begun to engage the Indian political establishment with greater urgency. After resurrecting the… Read More »Proxy war

Middle class aspirations harming BRICS integration By 2022, those living in poverty will be a minority for the first time, as the global middle class- particularly from BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations-surges. Increasingly, the emerging middle class in BRICS countries is becoming one of the most important international customer bases. Over the past decade in Brazil, about 20 million people joined the middle class, which now comprises about 50 percent of… Read More »Scuttling rise

Trilateral trade between Afghanistan- Pakistan-India Manmohan Singh’s wish, to be able to have breakfast in Amritsar, lunch in Lahore and dinner in Kabul, may finally see the light of day now that Nawaz Sharif is re-elected as Pakistan’s leader. Back in 1999, as Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif initiated an ambitious process of planning a super-express highway that would connect Afghanistan and India through Pakistan. Although this plan made a rough progress during Musharraf’s and Zardari’s… Read More »Connecting hope