Category Archives: Military Acquisitions

India can play bigger military role in Asia

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The Singapore statesman, Lee Kuan Yew likened Asia to an airplane with India and China as the two wings keeping the continent flying. This aviation metaphor was constructed, at least in part, on the hope and prayer that India would … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Defence Industry, 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, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | 14 Comments

Risat SAR

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The important thing about the Risat-1 sent up a few days back is that the synthetic aperture radar in it is of Israeli origin. However, the SAR on board Risat-2 will be the entirely indigeneous, tho’ a little bulkier than … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Defence Industry, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Ocean, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, satellites, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Technology transfer | 11 Comments

Agni-V — guidance on chip

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Responding to my earlier blog on the advanced chip-embedded guidance system successfuly tested on Agni-V, an expert at the cutting edge of these technologies emailed me the following. It will flesh out the understanding of interested readers so I’m copying it … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence Industry, Military Acquisitions, Missiles | 18 Comments

India’s missile bamboozle

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Bharat Karnad There has been needless confusion and obfuscation about the Agni-V missile test-fired on April 19. First was the delay in the launch by some 11 hours. For a missile touted as “all weather”, a bit of lightning shouldn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Defence Industry, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Army, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer | 7 Comments

Agni-5 tid-bits

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The Agni-5 performance has proved the quality of many new and advanced technologies on board. Most important among these is the chip-embedded guidance system that, besides rendering the missile so-called “fly by wire”, immunizes it against the effect of re-entry heat that previously … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Defence Industry, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, Military Acquisitions, Missiles | 4 Comments

A Sting in the General’s tale

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

It is hard to say when it is that the military stopped being the paragons of propriety in a social milieu increasingly bereft of basic values that people once saw reflected in men in olive green (or in air force … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Defence Industry, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Military Acquisitions | 1 Comment

The costs of military bloat

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherji in his budget speech announced defence allocations of Rs 1.93 lakh crores with a set aside of Rs 79,579 crores for capital acquisitions adding, portentously in Parliament, that if needed the defence spend would be increased … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions | 5 Comments

The defence budget and getting military priorities right

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The existing year-to-year defence budgeting scheme means that the armed services cannot be sure their capital acquisitions plans will be funded as per their preferred time-frame. This is because the government commits itself financially, but only notionally, to the entire … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions | 1 Comment

Chinese ASBM validation by Indian team, but huge Questions utility-wise

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile system has been touted as the great “game changer” mainly by commentators outside China. There’s however some confusion about the status of this ASBM system. PACOM CINC Admiral Willard in December 2010 stated that it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with the US & West | Leave a comment

Art of deal-making

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

// India and the United States resemble an old, estranged, couple who are too irked by each other’s frets and foibles to stay together but aware of too many shared interests to live apart. Their relations reek of familiarity even … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence Industry, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Military Acquisitions, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer | Leave a comment