The state of the submarine arm of the Indian Navy is dismal. With a high of 20 vessels in its inventory in the 80s when the threats to the Indian mainland were minimal it is now down to 13 obsolescent boats when the Chinese are lurking in our backyard. Unfortunately some of the losses have been due to human error and breach of standard operating procedures leading to the resignation of a Chief of Naval… Read More »Submarine needs

After about 28 years of misbegotten abstention in acquisition of new artillery guns for the Indian Army there is a glimmer of hope that an indigenous Bofors gun could emerge from a dusty drawer in the Gun Carriage Factory in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Before being swept out of power the Congress-led UPA government rectified a grave error of judgment by initiating inhouse conversion of the drawings supplied by the original equipment manufacturer Bofors AB of… Read More »Artillery modernization

India and Russia are once again set to further deepen their defence nuclear technology cooperation. The issue of acquiring second Akula class nuclear submarine on lease from Russia was extensively discussed during the visit of Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu in the third week of January this year. The special and privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia will get a new boost if India decides to acquire the second nuclear powered submarine from Russia… Read More »Defence cooperation

The modernization of India’s tank fleet must begin with the upgradation of the long-delayed Arjun tank before the cumulative capability enhancement garnered in the design, development and productionisation from the drawing board to commissioning of the former can be applied to the next generation Indian armor. Just as in the Arjun, the decisive factor in its fighting parameters will depend on an engine with sufficient horsepower to carry its final all-up weight. This time, given… Read More »Tank modernization

With the recent successful test of 1000 kg glide bomb guided to its target with “great precision” a multi-disciplinary group of Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratories led by the rocket specialist Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad, India has taken a giant leap in precision guided munitions. Rapid productionisation should help alleviate the shortages of tank and 155 mm howitzer shells in the Central Ordnance Depots. The glide is facilitated by fins front and back and… Read More »PGMs and battlefield

The Indian armed forces have been acquainted with the “air-land battle” concept since 1987 when General K Sundarji conducted the massive deployment of air, land and sea components during Operation Brasstacks in the Rajasthan desert and the Gujarat marshlands. It was described by military commentators at the time as being the largest mobilization of military manpower since World War II, dwarfing anything the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) had done since its inception. Much of… Read More »Joint operations

Air superiority is an essential military mission, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Control of the air is not an end of its own, but rather it provides the flexibility and freedom of action central to a full range of military capabilities. From its earliest days in the skies over the battlefields, air superiority has proven itself as an objective of primary importance for all military forces. The maneuverability and lethality… Read More »Unmanned vehicles

For India it took decades of trial and error and competence building on manned target training aircraft to transit to pilotless target trainers to unmanned aerial vehicles. And now India is preparing to deploy indigenous unmanned combat vehicles that will largely close the gap that exists between the country and the leaders in the technology. Those in contact with the Defence Research and Development Organisation since its conversion from the Defence Science Laboratory were afflicted… Read More »India’s UCAVs

Today’s naval aircraft have come a long way from the Wright Brothers’ flying machine. These modern and complex aircraft require a maintenance team that is far superior to those of the past. Other countries look upon the United States as the leader of the free world. This accomplishment comes partly through its military strength achieved through sea power. The ability to fight in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War came directly… Read More »Naval aviation

India is better prepared to deal with any Pakistan tank attack anywhere along its western front than it has ever been. The two major tank battles that the two fought have been on Indian soil. The first one was in Khemkaran (Assal Uttar) in 1965 where the Pattons were decimated by some brilliant generalship by the Indian commander, who flooded the fields and reduced the ultra-modern Pakistani tanks to sitting ducks. The other one in… Read More »Cold Start Doctrine