The Afghan tradition of gaining control of areas does not necessarily involve combat. Most engagements are settled through negotiations and pay-offs before battle is joined. This style of fighting is peculiar to Afghanistan, explains Ajai Shukla, who witnessed such a transaction between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance in November 2001.
Defence experts want defence expenditure to be at 3% of GDP, which they consider minimum to counter the two-front threat from China and Pakistan, internal insurgencies, and dominating a 7,500 km coastline and the Indian Ocean beyond. What Arun Jaitley has given India this Budget is 2.16% of GDP, observes Ajai Shukla.
In any conflict with China, the unmanned BrahMos could be advantageously used in the opening stages for pinpoint strikes on heavily defended targets -- such as air bases, headquarters, key roads and railways or logistics dumps -- which are too dangerous for manned fighter aircraft to attack.
RInstead of disengagement, the Indian and Chinese armies have deployed an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 soldiers each along the LAC. The PLA has deployed S-400 air defence missiles to neutralise the IAF's advantage in air power
Top HAL sources say the AMCA, which is being developed as the IAF's next-generation stealth fighter, is slated to be assembled at HAL Nashik.
The Tejas Mark 1A outperforms the Sino-Pakistan JF-17 Thunder in avionics and weaponry, but the finance ministry's tax burden makes the Indian LCA costlier and hurts it in the export market.
The unstated aim of a well-publicised airlift operation of this kind is to demonstrate India's ability to rapidly move troops and equipment over long distances.
It is baffling how the PM chose the LCH as an indigenous product to celebrate on Rashtriya Raksha Samarpan Parv, even while his Cabinet holds up manufacturing clearance for 15 LCHs on the grounds that they are not Indian enough.
Indian Army officers are convinced China is maintaining the pretence of dialogue and negotiations in order to create the opportunity to occupy more Indian territory. Senior Indian planners apprehend this might be a Chinese ploy to divert attention from Depsang, in Northern Ladakh, which might be China's actual target.
'These combat engineer units are used in war for building bridges for advancing troops.' 'Instead of training by building bridges over the Mula and Mutha rivers in Pune, they will practice by building bridges in Mumbai,' Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat tells Ajai Shukla.
Boeing is pressing hard to win the Indian Navy contract for 57 aircraft carrier-borne fighters. It could offer the Super Hornet in the ongoing IAF procurement of 114 medium fighters; its upgraded F-15EX fighter also on the list.
Several hundred Indian firms that manufacture or assemble Rs 10,000 crore worth of aerospace components annually for manufacturers like Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin and Bell Helicopters now face disruptions relating to covid-19.
Is it Rs 300 billion or Rs 66 billion or Rs 33.12 billion?
'Foreign ministry sources in Delhi discount the official version of the story, in which Modi made an impromptu request to stop over at Lahore, during the course of a birthday telephone call to Nawaz Sharif. In fact, this stopover had been carefully considered in Delhi, as a way to galvanise the peace process further.'
The intrusions into India were likely carried out by the PLA's better trained and equipped 'mobile operational units'.
On the shopping list: Light tanks, anti-tank guided missiles, UAVs, assault rifles, fighter aircraft.
The SpyLite aerial system will help our soldiers in border flashpoints like Doklam and in encounters with terrorists in Kashmir.
The Indian Army, placing traditional weapons above high-technology, says that equipping the army's 800-plus combat units with a Battlefield Management System would cost an unaffordable Rs 500 billion to Rs 600 billion, reveals Ajai Shukla.
So keen is Moscow that India buy its helicopter -- Kamov-226T -- that President Vladimir Putin personally took up the issue with PM Narendra Modi during their summit meeting last year
'There is no secrecy clause to the price (of the aircraft).' 'There can be secrecy on the capability of the nuclear payload of aircraft and things like that, but the price is hardly a secret.'
Its advanced Longbow radar picks up enemy armoured vehicles and then destroys them with anti-tank missiles, air-to-surface rockets or a chain gun that sends 625 rounds per minute ripping into the targets.
Access to Sabang Port will allow the Indian Navy to dominate Malacca Strait more effectively, reports Ajai Shukla.
'The INS Vishal -- a 65,000 tonne giant with 54 aircraft, including fighters, electronic warfare aircraft, airborne command posts and anti-submarine helicopters -- can both protect and dominate,' says Ajai Shukla.
Costing Rs 500 billion, the INS Vishal will be the Indian military's single most expensive defence platform.
The Chinese envoy recommends an early harvest on the border issue while maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas, reports Ajai Shukla.
Dassault Aviation chief Eric Trappier has made it clear it would take at least three years to deliver 36 Rafales to the Indian Air Force.
'It would be a travesty if the Malaysian air force likes the Tejas, but decides against it because it sees the IAF reluctance to back the fighter.'
>The Indian Navy wants 'day and night capable, all weather multi-role deck based combat aircraft which can be used for air defence, air-to-surface operations, buddy refuelling, reconnaissance, electronic warfare missions' from its aircraft carriers.
If the new request for 18 more fighters translates into a contract, the Sukhoi-30MKI fleet size will go up to 14 squadrons, or 290 fighters.
Powering the Agni-1P will be the cutting-edge technologies developed for the Agni-4 and Agni-5 missiles.
The Light Combat Helicopter will enable the army to provide fire support to soldiers at altitudes of 15,000 to 20,000 feet, where the oxygen-depleted air prevents them from carrying weaponry heavier than their personal rifles and light machine guns.
With India's political wheel turning full circle this year, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will negotiate from an expanding diplomatic space, writes Ajai Shukla
The MiG29K and MiG29KUB, the aircraft carrier's primary fighters, spent more time in the hangar than in the air, with fleet serviceability remaining below 50 per cent, reports Ajai Shukla.
Given the importance of equipment modernisation, the overall defence budget should rise at least at the same pace as salaries and pensions, so that equipment modernisation is not hit.
The Indian Army has shown it can face down the PLA, but is too often held back by a political leadership that lacks boldness, asserts Ajai Shukla.
'China has forcibly occupied territory it had never occupied before, blocked Indian patrols' access to areas they had patrolled for decades and, most provocatively, killed 20 Indian soldiers.' 'Most countries would regard these as acts of war.' 'New Delhi has apparently taken off the table the option of evicting the PLA with force,' observes Ajai Shukla.
'The high court notice could go some way in easing the vitiated civil-military relationship, and the trust deficit between civil servants and the military.'
Dhruv and LUH helicopters must supply provisions to, and evacuate casualties from Siachen Glacier posts like Sonam, which, at 20,997 feet, is the highest inhabited spot on the planet.
The IAF can fire Brahmos missiles from several hundred kilometres away. The BrahMos flies supersonic, at speeds up to Mach 2.5, giving the enemy little time to react
In New Delhi's corridors of power, debate continues on whether the navy even needs a third aircraft carrier.
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