Category Archives: Missiles

Another K-4 testfiring soon but Kasturirangam metric poses danger

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Bharat Karnad

Preparations are afoot for the fourth test launch soon, and second from a submerged Arihant SSBN, of the K-4 missile. The first two firings were from an anchored underwater pontoon. While this is good, the restricted number of launches planned … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, society, South Asia, Strategic Forces Command, Weapons | 23 Comments

Why India Is Not A Great Power

Posted on January 7, 2017 by Bharat Karnad

A review by Jaideep A. Prabhu of my last book, Why India is Not a Great Power (Yet) in Swarajya Magazine, dated January 7, 2017 at http://swarajyamag.com/books/why-india-is-not-a-great-power, reproduced below ——— In Why India Is Not A Great Power (Yet), Bharat Karnad’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, arms exports, Asian geopolitics, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Central Asia, China, China military, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Cyber & Space, Defence Industry, domestic politics, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, 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 policy -- Israel, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Iran and West Asia, Israel, Japan, Maldives, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Myanmar, Nepal, nonproliferation, Northeast Asia, nuclear industry, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, SAARC, society, South Asia, South East Asia, Sri Lanka, Strategic Forces Command, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, Terrorism, Tibet, UN, US., Vietnam, West Asia, Western militaries | 14 Comments

Why a merit-less Rafale buy can’t be justified

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

As perhaps his last action as the air force chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha did two things to ensure that in retirement he will not face the opprobrium of his colleagues in service. One, he drew back from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, society, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, United States, US., Weapons, Western militaries | 26 Comments

Trashing Nirbhay?

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

The fourth test-firing of the vertically launched Nirbhay subsonic 1,000km range cruise missile ended in failure with the wings failing properly to deploy in horizontal flight to target. In four test launches so far, the missile has failed for different … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, arms exports, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Defence Industry, DRDO, Europe, 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, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, society, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, United States, US., Weapons, Western militaries | 23 Comments

Price of angering the Bear, & the A-5 decision

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

The proverbial “well-placed” source informs me that the Indian Embassy in Moscow has been told by the foreign affairs cell of the Russian defence ministry that, given the close military communications interlinks the Narendra Modi government is seriously considering signing … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Cyber & Space, Defence Industry, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, nonproliferation, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, South Asia, Strategic Forces Command, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, United States, US., Weapons, Western militaries | 15 Comments

‘Tyagi-itis’ hollowing out the military and the country

Posted on December 10, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

Tyagi — literally translates as “someone who sacrifices”. Ironic, isn’t it, that an air force chief by this name (SP Tyagi), reeled in by the Central Bureau of Investigation for corruption and graft, has sacrificed his Service’s reputation on the … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Defence Industry, domestic politics, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, guerilla warfare, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian democracy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, society, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, United States, US., Weapons | 23 Comments

Indian Navy going down the way of the other two Armed Services

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

The Navy was different from the Air Force and the Army because of its institutional tilt towards indigenization of equipment it used, especially major hardware such as capital weapons platforms. It had the warship directorate as part of Naval Headquarters … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Defence Industry, DRDO, Europe, 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, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, Russia, russian assistance, South Asia, Strategic Forces Command, Technology transfer, United States, US., Weapons | 79 Comments

New normal on LoC, Sartaj’s visit, Indo-Israeli ties

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

My participation in recent TV programs of possible interest: Rajya Sabha TV, The Big Picture,on “Alarming border situation… Is this the new normal?”, Friday,Nov 25, 2016, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqrlToNIVXU NewsX TV – “Why Wait to Say ‘No’ to Sartaj?”, Friday, Nov … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, arms exports, Asian geopolitics, Central Asia, China, Defence Industry, domestic politics, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, indian policy -- Israel, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Iran and West Asia, Israel, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Pakistan, Pakistan military, society, South Asia, Special Forces, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, United States, US., Weapons, West Asia | Leave a comment

PM Modi’s security policies for India imperfect but can be rectified

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

An isolationist American President Donald Trump will shrink the United States’ role and military presence abroad, and will be disinclined to assist India to deal with China or any other threat. This is not a bad thing to happen considering … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, Asian geopolitics, Central Asia, China, China military, Culture, Defence Industry, disarmament, DRDO, Europe, 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, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Iran and West Asia, Japan, Maldives, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Myanmar, nonproliferation, Northeast Asia, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, SAARC, society, South Asia, South East Asia, Strategic Forces Command, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, United States, US., Vietnam, Weapons | 10 Comments

More, Mr. Parrikar

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

He is duty-bound to confound assessments of India’s nuclear deterrent. ———— Deterrence is a mind game. Nuclear deterrence is even more psychologically weighted because at stake, quite literally, is a nation’s survival as a “social organism”, to use the words … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, disarmament, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, nonproliferation, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, society, South Asia, Strategic Forces Command, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States, US., Weapons | 10 Comments