Category Archives: Missiles

India’s sub-optimal nuclear weapons capability

Pallava Bagla’s ‘New Frontiers in Science and Development’ video, May 11, 2018

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, Decision-making, disarmament, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, nonproliferation, North Korea, Northeast Asia, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, society, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States, US., Weapons | 19 Comments

India’s nuclear do-nothing policy

(At the 1998 Pokhran test-site, prime minister Vajpayee, defence minister George Fernandes, head of DRDO Abdul Kalam, and chairman, AEC, R Chidambaram) The Shakti series of underground tests 20 years ago were the last, stifled, hurrah of the Indian nuclear … Continue reading

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Decision-making, disarmament, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, nonproliferation, North Korea, Northeast Asia, nuclear industry, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan nuclear forces, russian military, SAARC, society, South Asia, Strategic Forces Command, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States, US., Weapons, Western militaries | 11 Comments

DPC turning out, as expected, to be yet another bureaucratic pimple

[PM and Doval] The worst fears about the Defence Planning Committee (DPC) being yet another bureaucratic contrivance rather than an instrument for centralizing national security and defence decision-making were realized once the outcome of its first meeting became known. One … Continue reading

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, China military, civil-military relations, Cyber & Space, Decision-making, domestic politics, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Pakistan military, society, South Asia, United States, US., Weapons, Western militaries | 23 Comments

Another MOD document that means little?

(Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting an indigenously designed and produced carbine to Home Minister Rajnath Singh) MOD released for public scrutiny and for potential stakeholder comments from industry a draft Defence Production Policy (DProdP) 2018 on Thursday, March 24. It … Continue reading

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, Nuclear Weapons, satellites, society, South Asia, Technology transfer, United States, US., Weapons | 8 Comments

What’s the problem with Indo-Israeli relations?

  Many moons ago — in 1994 in fact, in my first book  — ‘Future Imperilled: India’s Security in the 1990s and Beyond’ (Viking-Penguin), in the lead chapter,  I had detailed a geopolitically ambitious security architecture for India anchored at … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Decision-making, Defence Industry, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian para-military forces, indian policy -- Israel, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, society, South Asia, Technology transfer, Terrorism, United States, US., Weapons | 9 Comments

India-Israel Relations

A panel discussion aired January 11, 2018 on the Rajya Sabha TV programme — ‘The Big Picture’ with former diplomats Virendra Gupta & Ashok Sajjanhar. KV Prasad of the Tribune (Chandigarh) and myself.

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Decision-making, Defence Industry, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, indian policy -- Israel, Intelligence, Internal Security, Israel, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, society, South Asia, Technology transfer, Terrorism, United States, US., Weapons, West Asia | 3 Comments

Challenges for Defence Forces

Panel discussion on “Challenges för Defence Forces” on the Rajya Sabha TV programme — ‘Security Scan’ broadcast December 28, 2017, featuring retired VCAS, Lt Gen Philip Campose, Saikat Datta of Asia Times and myself.    

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, domestic politics, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, Pakistan, Pakistan military, society, South Asia, Special Forces, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, United States, US., Weapons | 1 Comment

Spiking Spike is good, now start incentivising DRDO & making it accountable

(Firing Spike) On the eve of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Israel a column of mine published July 1, 2017 in BloomberyQuint and posted on this blog (https://bharatkarnad.com/2017/07/01/modi-in-israel-need-for-more-equitable-defence-collaboration/ ) had argued for a more fair and equitable arrangement with Israel … Continue reading

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Decision-making, Defence Industry, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, indian policy -- Israel, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Iran and West Asia, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, society, South Asia, Technology transfer, Weapons | 9 Comments

Ballsy Kim & his doings

(Aegis CS firing a missile from a US warship) Just been told (by a source) that North Korea has hacked into and made vulnerable the “open architecture” of the Aegis combat system (Baseline 7, Phase 1) equipping the three ‘Sejong … Continue reading

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Decision-making, Defence Industry, disarmament, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, Intelligence, Iran and West Asia, Israel, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, nonproliferation, North Korea, Northeast Asia, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, United States, US., Weapons, Western militaries | 55 Comments

Will India Ever Be A Great Power? Swarajya — extended interview

https://swarajyamag.com/defence/will-india-ever-be-a-great-power-heres-what-bharat-karnad-has-to-say-about-it If time is available, I suggest listening to the podcast of the interview in extenso in the above URL. You’ll avoid some of the mistakes in transcription that have crept into the published Swarajya version of the interview. ————– … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, arms exports, Asian geopolitics, Australia, Bangladesh, Central Asia, China, China military, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, disarmament, domestic politics, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, guerilla warfare, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian democracy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Indian para-military forces, indian policy -- Israel, Indian Politics, Intelligence, Internal Security, Israel, Japan, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, nonproliferation, North Korea, Northeast Asia, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, SAARC, satellites, society, South Asia, South East Asia, Special Forces, Strategic Forces Command, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, Terrorism, Tibet, United States, US., Vietnam, Weapons, Western militaries | 23 Comments