In January 1971 I entered my final year of school. Already there were rumblings in the media of serious events in East Pakistan, which was to become Bangladesh by the end of the year. In March 1971 after the Dhaka University massacre by the Pakistan Army, refugees started pouring into India and war clouds beganContinue reading “The Air War of 1971: Memories of a Teenager”
Tag Archives: India
General Atomics – The Power House of Unmanned Systems
General Atomics is an American energy and defence corporation with interests in diversified technologies. It was founded on July 18, 1955 as a Division of General Dynamics, in San Diego, California, by Frederic de Hoffmann with assistance from notable physicists Edward Teller and Freeman Dyson “for harnessing the power of nuclear technologies for the benefitContinue reading “General Atomics – The Power House of Unmanned Systems”
Strategic Balance in the Indo-Pacific – Implications India
“Only air power can defeat air power. The actual elimination or even stalemating of an attacking air force can be achieved only by a superior air force.” —Alexander P. de Seversky “Indo-Pacific is a region with 50 per cent of the world’s population, and enormous diversity of religions, culture, languages, history and political and economicContinue reading “Strategic Balance in the Indo-Pacific – Implications India”
India’s Neighbourhood – Pakistan The Fountainhead of World Terrorism
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the world’s fifth-most populous country with a population of around 212 million. It has the world’s second-largest Muslim population. It is the 33rd-largest country by area, spanning 881,913 square kilometres. Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is borderedContinue reading “India’s Neighbourhood – Pakistan The Fountainhead of World Terrorism”
Unified Combatant Command – India
India’s newly minted Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat has been driving quick changes to Indian military structures. The Kargil Review Committee set up immediately after the Kargil war had made many recommendations. Among them were issues related to National Security Council, intelligence, counter-terrorist operations, border management, defence budget and modernisation, National Security ManagementContinue reading “Unified Combatant Command – India”
China’s Rising Aerospace Power
“To secure peace is to prepare for war”—Carl von Clausewitz Napoleon once said, “China is a sleeping giant, let her lie and sleep, for when she awakens, she will astonish the world.” By the turn of the 21 st century the sleeping giant was not only awake but heavily influencing and, in many ways dictatingContinue reading “China’s Rising Aerospace Power”
Element Air – Joint Operations – Indian Armed Forces
With the official creation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), it is hoped that jointness will the main driver that will get a major push. Real jointness is when land, air and naval commanders jointly formulate, train, orchestrate and implement war plans. Employment of forces in the modem battlefield to achieve military objectives takesContinue reading “Element Air – Joint Operations – Indian Armed Forces”
Indian Power Projection – Element Air
With expansionist China and a powerful India having a serious Face-off in Ladakh. It is a great time to talk about Indian defence capability and ability for power projection. A few general points first India’s traditional foreign-policy orientation was not for military power projection. Things have changed. In 2014, PM Modi told the military commandersContinue reading “Indian Power Projection – Element Air”
India’s Neighbourhood Series – China
India is the largest country in South Asia. It is the second-most populous country, the seventh-largest country by land area, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India isContinue reading “India’s Neighbourhood Series – China”
India’s Missiles Development Program
India today has developed, tested, operationalized and is developing a number of missile systems that are limited to only a handful of countries including ICBMs, ASATs, SLBMs and hypersonic weapon systems. Threats posed by enemy missile systems led to the pursuit of Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme. India produces most of defined MTCR defined missile technologies required to be integrated to produce most missileContinue reading “India’s Missiles Development Program”