Category Archives: Military Acquisitions

India’s submarine production

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

The Sindhurakshak tragedy raises many issues, among them, the danger of close-berthing of warships and submarines in the crowded Mumbai docks and the need urgently to commission the Karwar base to host most of the Western Fleet and take the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, Defence Industry, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, Weapons, Western militaries | 17 Comments

VADM KN Sushil (Retd) on Sindhurakshak incident

Posted on August 18, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Reproduced below are some thoughts of importance on the Sindhurakshak incident emailed me by a veteran submariner, VADM KN Sushil, who retired as Flag-Officer-Commanding-in-C, Southern Naval Command: 1 On the night of 13/14 just before midnight two explosions rocked the … Continue reading →

Posted in Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, South Asia, Technology transfer, Terrorism, Weapons | Tagged | 6 Comments

Some developments re: Sindhurakshak

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Despite the CNS ADM DK Joshi’s rejecting the possibility of sabotage, stories are swirling around about just such possibility as the cause for the sinking of Sindhurakshak early morning Aug 14. For such stories to bear out necessarily presumes one … Continue reading →

Posted in Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, South Asia | 2 Comments

Fire in weapon/weapon fuel downs Sindhurakshak

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

The explosion on board the Kilo-class Russian submarine with the Indian Navy, Sindhurakshak, in Mumbai last evening, according to a veteran submariner, was due to fire in the forward weapons section of the boat carrying the Klub-S anti-ship missile and … Continue reading →

Posted in India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, russian assistance, South Asia | Leave a comment

Danger from Hong-10

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Following up an earlier blog about China buying the entire Tu-22M Bacfire production line lock, stock and barrel from the Russian Kazan facility for a mere $1.5 billion (when our redoubtable air force has spent more than that amount on … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, South Asia, South East Asia, Technology transfer | 3 Comments

Failure-bound maritime strategy

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

The public perception of the Indian army being smacked around on the border by China needs correction. Actually army units with the Leh-based XIV Corps do “power patrolling”, matching the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) move for aggressive move, including … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, West Asia | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Creaky MiG-21 bison, weakened air defence

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

The near-antique MiG-21 bison (not bis! updated correction, sorry folks) still perform frontline service with the Indian Air Force, except the creakiness of these short range air defence combat aircraft is telling. The air frames are beginning to fray. Mindful … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Defence Industry, DRDO, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Military Acquisitions, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Russia, russian assistance, South Asia | 3 Comments

French frankness and Defence hard-sell

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

The French Defence Minister Jean Yves Le Drian at a talk in IDSA straightforwardly presented some of the points in the ‘Defence and National Security White Paper 2013’ (the last such document was issued in 2008). He emphasized the fact … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, Defence Industry, DRDO, Europe, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, South Asia, Special Forces, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, Western militaries | Leave a comment

More on ASMP-A, Brahmos, HCM MIRV-ed warheads

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Missed a zero! With hypersonic cruise glide MIRVed warheads (not glide-bombs) on A-5 and successor A-6, the range actually is increased by 2000-3000 kms (not 200 kms as mentioned in my previous blog on the subject). So, an 8000 km … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Cyber & Space, Defence Industry, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian para-military forces, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Russia, russian assistance, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, United States, US. | 2 Comments

France loading ASMP-A on Rafale

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Now what do we hear? There’s tantalizing talk of France offering, as sweetener for the Rafale MMRCA deal still hanging fire, the Air-launched ASMP-A (Air-Sol Moyenne Portee) cruise missile. The twin objective could also be to displace the Brahmos with … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Defence Industry, DRDO, Europe, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Russia, russian assistance, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer | 2 Comments