BUILDING A POWERFUL BUT COST-EFFECTIVE NAVAL FORCE

AMIT GUPTA suggests ways how India can have a navy with a punch that doesn’t break the budget

ANDAMAN & NICOBAR COMMAND: INDIA'S SPRINGBOARD FOR SEA DOMINANCE

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have the potential to be a unique commercial and strategic hub that secures India’s eastern seaboard by controlling key chokepoints. The Andaman and Nicobar Tri-Command holds the key to unlocking this potential, writes RAKESH KRISHNAN SIMHA

Indian Missile Tests Show Urgency

By test-firing as many as 12 missiles in last two months, India is now matching China missile by missile and is closing the technology gap, argues NINAD D SHETH

SHOOT TO KILL: RAPID INFANTRY MODERNISATION IS NEED OF THE HOUR

Starting right from automatic rifles, shoulder-fired rocket launchers, sniper rifles, pistols, carbines, under-barrel grenade launchers and ending with light machine guns, the Indian Army requires brand new assault weapons for defending the nation, argues AMARTYA SINHA

WATER ON THE MOON

No water, no colony ! This had been the one piece in the jigsaw puzzle that scientists believed was the `deal breaker` between simply visiting the planet closest to Earth and colonising it. Now with news of the discovery of water the equation changes

THE QUAD IS FINALLY FLEXING ITS MUSCLE

India, Australia, Japan and the United States have come together in a joint military exercise in the Bay of Bengal. All four countries are wary of what they perceive as China’s ‘expansionist’ mindset

THE FUTURE OF INDIAN ARMS PRODUCTION

AMIT GUPTA explains why with the “mantra” of giving up what is desirable and opting for what is achievable, joint ventures are the future of Indian arms production

MORE HEFT AND FIZZ

Will India’s latest Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 speed up military capability - building through indigenous efforts, help in achieving the turnover of ₹1,75,000 crore and exports of ₹35,000 crore by 2020- 25 as per the targets enunciated in the draft Defence Production Policy 2020? AMIT COWSHISH answers

DELHI'S OUTREACH TO NAYPYIDAW

Myanmar is now receiving new attention in India’s Act East Policy, writes BALADAS GHOSHAL

FORWARD MOMENTUM

With the ongoing border tensions with China showing no signs of cooling off and a diplomatic thaw seeming too far as a mirage, Indian military is preparing for the long-haul in Ladakh

BUILDING THE ORDER BOOK

The orderbooks for LCA, LCH, HTT-40 and LUH are poised for robust growth at HAL, with the DPSU also getting ready to come up with a whole gamut of world-class products in the new decade, explains DHIRENDER JAMWAL

12 MISSILE SYSTEMS IN 2 MONTHS, DRDO IS ON ROCKET FUEL

With a flurry of back-to-back weapon tests successfully validating new and indigenous technologies, DRDO is all set to play a pivotal role in fulfilling the ultimate dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat in the new decade, explains R CHANDRAKANTH

“WE ENDEAVOUR TO MAINTAIN OUR EDGE THROUGH MODERNIZATION AND ACQUISITION OF NEW SYSTEMS”

Commissioned into the Indian Air Force on June 15, 1980, AIR CHIEF MARSHAL RAKESH KUMAR SINGH BHADAURIA PVSM AVSM VM ADC took over as the 26th air chief Chief of the Air Staff on 30 September 2019. An alumnus of the prestigious National Defence Academy, he graduated with the coveted ‘Sword of Honour’. He has over 4270 hours of experience on 27 types of fighters as well as transport aircraft and holds the unique distinction of being an Experimental Test Pilot, a Cat 'A' Qualified Flying Instructor and a Pilot Attack Instructor. He completed his Masters in Defence Studies from Command and Staff College, Bangladesh. In a career, spanning almost four decades, the Air Chief Marshal has held a number of significant field and staff appointments which include Command of a front line Jaguar Squadron, Command of a premier Air Force Station in South-Western sector, Commanding Officer of Flight Test Squadron at Aircraft & System Testing Establishment and Chief Test Pilot as well as Project Director of National Flight Test Centre on Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project. He was extensively involved in the initial prototype flight testing on the LCA. He has flown the Rafale while preparations were on to induct it into the IAF. While acknowledging that the IAF faces many challenges and that its procurement schemes are being prioritised within the budgetary resources to ensure that urgent and critical capabilities are acquired first, he assured PRAKASH NANDA that the Indian Air-Warriors are best in the business. Excerpts of the interview:

‘THE MRSAM PROGRAMME IS PROGRESSING AS PLANNED'

The development of the MRSAM system is reflected in the innovation, creativity and remarkable personal dedication of all those involved in the project, says ELI ALFASSI, EVP Marketing of IAI, in this one-on-one with GEOPOLITICS

‘GRIPEN-E DESIGN ENABLES IAF TO MAKE CHANGES IN TACTICAL FUNCTIONS IN A VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME'

Saab’s plans for technology transfer programme is more of a capability transfer, going well beyond just the mechanics of transferring technology, including supporting current and future indigenous fighter programmes, explains OLA RIGNELL, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India, in this interview with GEOPOLITICS

‘AR-1500 OFFERS SATURN WAVEFORM AND L-BAND OPERATION'

Since no one else operates V/UHF radios in L-band, transmissions are less likely to be intercepted leading to more secure communications, explains DES BAXTER, Director (Business Development-Asia Pacific), Mission Systems, Collins Aerospace, in this interaction with GEOPOLITICS

THE IMPORTANCE OF A SPACE FORCE

Looking at the role played by the US Air Force in space-related activities in the past decades, HARINI MADHUSUDAN finds out its relevance for the Indian Air Force in the Indian Space domain

SHAPING THE IAF'S PROCUREMENT EFFORTS

AMIT GUPTA discusses what the IAF needs to procure from other countries and what it can produce domestically to counter a two-front threat

IAF IN A TWO-FRONT WAR

Though the Indian Air Force now has credible “strategic reach” from the Persian Gulf to the Straits of Malacca, it needs more fighter planes, more air defence systems and more missiles to manage a possible joint threat from China and Pakistan, argues Air Marshal ANIL CHOPRA

GA-ASI HAS PRODUCED MORE THAN 20 VARIANTS SINCE IT INTRODUCED ITS FIRST RPAS IN 1990

GA-ASI’s new MQ-9B is available as the SkyGuardian and the SeaGuardian for maritime operations. The UK is the launch customer and they requested a special variant, based on MQ-9B SkyGuardian, called the Protector, points out VIVEK LALL, Chief Executive, General Atomics Global Corporation, in this one-on-one with GEOPOLITICS

BEING A POTENT AIR FORCE

IAF’s new force structure emphasises on cutting-edge foreign acquired quality and ‘Make in India’ quantity, writes NINAD D SHETH

A GIANT LEAP

AMARTYA SINHA explains why hypersonic cruise missiles are a massive force multiplier

The Story Of Atmanirbharta In Defence

Will the embargo on import and carving out of a separate budget head for local procurement give impetus to indigenisation and self-reliance in a way that the measures taken in the past two decades have not? Amit Cowshish attempts an answer

Article 370 — One Year Later, Huge Infra Push In J&K

The abrogation of Article-370 and Article-35A of the Constitution of India has seen an outpour of developmental initiatives in the two newly formed union territories, reports Amartya Sinha

Is The “New LAC Normal” Here To Stay?

Presenting a “Reality Check”, GEN RAJ MEHTA argues that while India’s conventional war-fighting approach suffices for Pakistan (in the event of Chinese collusion in SSN), the Chinese fight very differently. Thus, Indian forces will have to balance conventional wisdom for Pakistan with Chinese unorthodoxy and recourse to deception and deceit and trump both approaches

HIT TO KILL: THE ARTILLERY SAGA

At a time when India is increasingly facing the threat of a two-front war on its borders, it will be very apt to conclude that the Indian Army’s artillery modernisation drive requires a tremendous thrust from the government, argues AMARTYA SINHA

FORFEITING NATIONAL SECURITY FOR TURF

Inter-organisational cooperation and camaraderie is a fallacy which has been propagated for long, laments PANKAJ BHAGWATI

HIGH TIME FOR AGNI-VI INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE

Now is the time for the NDA-3 government to prove its political will by swiftly approving the Agni- VI thermonuclear ICBM programme which will push India into the elite league of military superpowers like USA, Russia and China. Such a capability will give India tremendous diplomatic leverage at global high tables and will deter big powers from attempting Balkanisation of India during future conflicts, explains AMARTYA SINHA

BOEING OFFERS F/A-18 BLOCK-III SUPER HORNETS TO INDIAN NAVY

India is the front and centre of significant opportunities for Boeing, with India’s defence forces having invested in advanced capabilities for now and the future. Boeing is committed to supporting, as well as helping the modernisation of India’s armed forces.

LOCKHEED MARTIN CONCLUDES ANNUAL SUPPLIERS CONFERENCE

Reaffirming its continued commitment to and focus on Make in India, Lockheed Martin has announced the culmination of the 7th edition of its annual Suppliers Conference on July 31, 2020. The event was co-hosted with Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).