While trying to persuade North Korea to give up its provocative actions, engaging China is the first hurdle that world leaders will have to deal with, says Rajaram Panda.
'Extending the range of the DF-21D could challenge Indian aircraft carriers if the missiles are launched from southwest China. Also, if Pakistan acquires these systems, these missiles could directly challenge India's aircraft carriers.'
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. Beijing has also made substantial progress in militarising its man-made islands in the past few years, which it says it has the right to defend.
Joint Chief of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Ahsanul Haq has said Pakistan is self-sufficient.
However, Bush will not want to be seen as leaving the White House having allowed Iran to go nuclear.
With Intelligence inputs warning of a possible aerial terror attack, Defence Minister A K Antony today said the armed forces were ready to take on any future threats against the country. "We are ready for any eventuality," Antony told reporters while replying to a question on the sidelines of a function to honour war widows in New Delhi.
The launch of the intermediate range ballistic missile Agni-III should be seen as a stepping stone in pushing the country towards further advances in military technology, the defence minister said.
CAATSA was aimed at Moscow and not intended to damage the military capabilities of its 'allies and partners', US said.
Taipei on Friday termed China's military exercises around the island nation 'highly provocative' after some Chinese aircraft and warships crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
The White House has said that it has put all options on table to tackle the threat posed by nuclear-armed North Korea.
The latest launch came just five days after Pyongyang fired two short-range ballistic missiles.
A fighter aircraft's lethality in air-to-air combat is governed by the air-to-air missile that it carries. Since the Independence, the Indian Air Force has mounted French, Russian and British missiles on its fighters. On Sunday, an IAF Sukhoi-30MKI fighter conducted the first test launch of the indigenous Astra air-to-air missile, which the Defence R&D Organisation is developing at its missile cluster in Hyderabad.
Describing the trial a "complete success", sources said that all the mission objectives were met during the test.
A Chinese research ship on Wednesday docked at Sri Lanka's Colombo port, officials in Colombo said, amid security concerns raised by the US over its visit.
With the fight now having been taken to the seizure of nuclear plants, it is one more warning to Europe that this prolonged war could end up with disastrous consequences, observes Rashme Sehgal
Sri Lanka is currently processing a request by China to allow a research ship to dock in the country, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday, a year after a visit by a Chinese spy vessel to the Island nation raised security concerns in India.
India to go ahead with S-400 missile deal with Russia, but declines project to develop a fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
'The world may be desirous of peace, but not Kim Jong-un.' 'Should we then accept the old adage that to maintain peace, we should be prepared for war?' asks Rajaram Panda.
The new minister must commit himself to supporting long-term defence plans or else defence modernisation will continue to lag and the growing military capabilities gap with China will assume ominous proportions, warns Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The first canister-based trial of the 5,000 km-plus nuclear capable Agni-V long range ballistic missile is likely to take place on January 31.
Both India and South Korea will use President Park Geun-hye's visit to unveil a comprehensive programme for mutual benefit and impacting on regional security environment, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
There could be significant announcements about India's purchase of Kamov-226T helicopters, S-400 air defence missile systems, and the long-delayed contract for joint development of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft.
It is feared that the covert Club-K missile attack system could prove 'game-changing' in fighting wars with small countries, which would gain a remote capacity to mount multiple missiles on boats, trucks or railways.
'An economic slowdown affects a country's ability to modernise its defence capabilities as rapidly as possible.'
The Indian Army is enhancing the combat prowess of its artillery units along the frontier with China by procuring an array of weapons systems, including an additional batch of 100 K9 Vajra howitzers, swarm drones, loitering munitions and surveillance systems.
'If ever India loses its patience after repeated terror attacks and decides to retaliate against the terrorist camps, Pakistan may term that a conventional military attack and invoke the nuclear option. This is a way to continue with terrorism without retaliation.'
'Everybody spies on their friends as well as their enemies. That's the way the world works these days'
US Under Secretary Victoria Nuland, who met Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, raised concerns about the upcoming visit of the Chinese research vessel 'SHI YAN 6'
The INS Chakra III will be ideal for 'sea denial' missions, in which the submarine denies the enemy the use of the sea.
A general in-charge of Russia's ballistic arsenal has said that the military could target the bases in Poland and the Czech Republic which will host the missile-interceptor shield if America insists on building them, The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday.
'With Pakistan's 'first use doctrine' threatening the use of nuclear weapons early in a war with India, the S-400 will shield vulnerable targets like Delhi and Mumbai, complicating Pakistan's targeting calculations.'
Government on Tuesday removed the chief of top defence research organisation Avinash Chander, 15 months before his contract was to end.
Even without a sanctioned government project for the Agni-6, it seems inevitable that the Agni-5, over the next few years, will organically evolve into an ICBM with improved technologies and capabilities.
India is only the fourth country to acquire such a specialised and modern capability after the United States, Russia and China.
With this new induction, the country has the capability to launch nukes from land, air and sea.
India on Thursday hit back at China for its statement that Nuclear Suppliers Group membership can't be a "farewell gift", saying it was not seeking the membership to the 48-nation grouping as gift but instead based on its non-proliferation record.
A peek into the life of a public-sector banker who did well professionally, but paid a price for it, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
A high-tech Chinese research ship docked at the strategically important Hambantota port departed from Sri Lankan waters on Monday after a controversial six-day visit.
