MoD, according to news reports, has instructed the Army HQ that its permission will need to be taken before changing the structure or role of the units in future. This could easily be interpreted to mean that there are no existing instructions on such vital issues. But such an impression would be wrong.

• Amit Cowshish
• December 26, 2013
• IDSA Comments

All major democracies have opted for the CDS and India cannot ignore it any further. In the prevailing battlefield milieu of joint operations, combined operations and even coalition operations, modern armed forces cannot be successful without a well-developed and deeply ingrained culture of jointmanship.

• Gurmeet Kanwal
• December 12, 2013
• IDSA Comments

Vikramaditya’s commissioning has re-ignited an old debate on the relevance of aircraft carriers. Proponents argue that it must play a central role in ‘blue-water’ plans while opponents posit that the carrier’s vulnerability and inadequate logistical sustainability render it an obsolete asset.

• Abhijit Singh
• November 27, 2013
• IDSA Comments

In a 4-part series of Policy Papers, P Stobdan analyses India's response to the global shifts and how India’s strategic perception seems to have altered dramatically in the recent years. What it essentially means is that embracing the cold-war perception or adopting any containment strategy is unlikely to be enduring in the longer run.

• P. Stobdan
• November 26, 2013
• Policy Brief

India’s acquisition of a deep-sea exploration ship ‘SamudraRatnakar’ is a noteworthy development. ‘Deep-sea mining’ has now been officially recognised as a future frontier of scientific research, a notion first outlined by a National Security Council paper in 2012.

• Abhijit Singh
• November 01, 2013
• IDSA Comments

Both India and Australia are trying hard to shed their traditional reticence and engage in the maritime domain, with both sides agreeing to a drastic overhaul of the existing exchanges.

• Abhijit Singh
• October 14, 2013
• IDSA Comments

The emerging doctrine of intervention is built around the ability of the international community, mainly the US-led western alliance, to impose its collective will in order to restore a deteriorating situation or to prevent a nascent conflict from burgeoning into full blown war with wider ramifications.

• Gurmeet Kanwal
• September 13, 2013
• IDSA Comments

The Indian navy has long aspired for a true blue water capability and the aircraft carrier project is a critical part of safeguarding India’s maritime interest that includes providing security along the sea lanes of communication.

• Vivek Kapur
• September 02, 2013
• IDSA Comments

Trends towards direct energy weapons (DEW), though yet to be fully mature and battle proven, indicate a major shift in the conduct of aerial combat in the coming decades.

• Vivek Kapur
• July 08, 2013
• Issue Brief

It needs to be noted that discipline and efficiency is the first demand in disaster response and relief tasks, which are often dangerous missions and quite naturally the military brings in order in post-disaster operations.

• P. K. Gautam
• July 05, 2013
• IDSA Comments

In order to achieve self reliance in defence production, enhancement of indigenous private industry’s role in R&D of defence systems is inevitable. Accordingly, amendments to the DPP-2011have been approved. Along with all other stakeholders, the DGQA too needs to gear up for the challenges this new policy is going to present.

• Mahendra Prasad
• May 28, 2013
• IDSA Comments

The military sector reform is a top priority for Vladimir Putin, who believes that these reforms will go a long way in achieving Russia’s military and comprehensive national power objectives. The on-going military reforms have come a long way since they were first introduced in 2008. Most of the structural reforms have already been implemented. The material reforms, which are necessary to ensure that the structural reforms deliver, are progressing well, notwithstanding difficulties such as corruption, availability of limited resources, and recession.

• Amit Kumar
• May 23, 2013
• Issue Brief

Parameters, dimensions and operational requirements specified by the user must be evaluated exclusively by the user trial team, while DGQA must concentrate only on the testing of quality encompassing the product design, the material used and the manufacturing process in addition to the environmental testing of the product under simulated conditions.

• Mahendra Prasad
• March 20, 2013
• IDSA Comments

A GDP growth of less than seven per cent combined with the fiscal consolidation path that the Finance Minister has articulated in his budget speech means a lot of pressure on the defence ministry whose plan for current and future expenditure up to 2017 is based on past GDP growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent.

• Laxman Kumar Behera
• March 04, 2013
• IDSA Comments

There is a need for an overhaul of the defence planning and budgeting systems to make them outcome oriented, which will lead to the development and maintenance of requisite capability through the defence forces as an entity over a specified long-term horizon.

• Gautam Sen
• March 04, 2013
• IDSA Comments

In the larger scheme of things, fiscal prudence is a good trait and the reduction in deficits desirable, yet an overtly ambitious approach of reducing deficits into a number game may lead to developments that may hurt us not only in the security arena but in economic growth as well.

• G. Balachandran , Shruti Pandalai
• March 04, 2013
• IDSA Comments

While the anguish over the state of modernization of the armed forces, the slow march towards achieving the capability for simultaneous action on two-fronts and rather feeble power projection on a global scale are understandable, what is not understandable is the expectation that the outlays for achieving these objectives would increase exponentially, irrespective of the state of the economy.

• Amit Cowshish
• February 27, 2013
• IDSA Comments

India, as a responsible regional power, should steer Afghanistan towards political stability, security through an inclusive government, economic growth, reconstruction and regional integration, which is what that country needs the most.

• Amar Ramdasani
• February 22, 2013
• IDSA Comments

The Agni-VI and Prahaar both signify unnecessary missile projects, which have been developed in the interests of DRDO technical and bureaucratic ambitions rather than the stated interests of India’s nuclear doctrine.

• Frank O’Donnell
• February 10, 2013
• IDSA Comments

India’s first aerospace-focussed SEZ that QuEST Global has set up at Hattargi village near Belgaum seeks to transform the Indian aerospace sector by striving to create a well-endowed aerospace ecosystem at one location.

• Radhakrishna Rao
• January 22, 2013
• IDSA Comments