VIF organised a round table discussion among Dr G Satheesh Reddy, the Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation), the strategic community and representatives from the private Indian defence manufacturers and included L&T’s Defence, Tata Advanced Systems, Bharat Forge, Godrej, Mahindra Defence etc.
The VIF in collaboration with Army War College/Army Training Command and IIM Indore organised a "Strategic Leadership and Perspective Planning" capsule for three days from 24 to 26 November 2021 at the VIF in physical mode. There were 16 to 18 recently approved Lt. Gens who attended the programme. Over a period of three days, in addition to the military aspects of strategic leadership and perspective planning they were exposed to strategic environment confronting India. Speakers from IIM, Indore dwelled on communication and management issues.
The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) invited Dr Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary, Govt. of India for a public discourse on 'India's Defence Reforms'. The talk was organised under the aegis of Vimarsha, a platform offered by the VIF to enable eminent persons, academicians, media personnel et al to engage directly with policy thinkers over a wide range of contemporary and historical issues.
Under the Vimarsha series of lectures organized by the VIF on 07 April 2021,General Bipin Rawat, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM, ADC, Chief of Defence Staff spoke on 'Shaping the Armed Forces to meet likely Current and Future Challenges'. It was followed with an equally exhaustive Q&A session. The CDS covered a wide spectrum in his talk, covering the issues of evolving nature of threats to India’s security, complexities in modern warfare, hybrid wars, implications of China’s rise, Pakistan’s proxy war against India, India’s military preparedness and the role of military diplomacy.
On 21 April 2021, Vivekananda International Foundation members had a virtual Interaction with UK’s Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nicholas PatrickCarter, GCB, CBE, DSO, ADC Gen. The interaction was focussed on the Indo-Pacific security and UK’s “Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy” released on 16 March 2021. Gen Carter highlighted the salient aspects of the review and emphasized on the areas of convergence from the perspective of the United Kingdom.
… according to her own admission, “China faces no threat”. It is therefore a matter to consider as to why China requires such a massive military establishment, a humungous power-bank which, even if intrinsic to its ‘barrel of gun’ ideology, far exceeds its reckonable defence needs - unless it is to provoke, dominate or impose over other nations’ sovereignty … this monograph is an assessment of the CMC’s strategic objectives and the PLA’s current war-worthiness to secure these …
… for some years before India’s military modernization bears fruition at the field level, the Indian military, having committed to its rigorous oath, has little option but to defend the nation by harnessing what resources that might be available and what little that might be coming in the immediate future …
After flashing in fury about an year back and eventually loosing much of its sheen and venom thereafter, the threat of CAATSA is alive, dangling yet again like the proverbial ‘Sword of Damocles’ over the fate of India’s purchase of S-400 system from Russia. This work is an attempt to analyse this issue in all its dimensions.
The Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC spoke on the “Role of the Indian Army (IA) in dealing with the Contemporary National Security Challenges” during the Vimarsh series of lecture organised by VIF on 24 Feb 2021. He spoke about the developing security mosaic, how it is shapingthe Indian Army and the contribution of IA towards nation building.
Commercial and military operations at sea and ashore across the globe are in the throes of technological and organisational transformation led by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies. These are impacting every aspect of the maritime industry necessitating `up-skilling, reskilling and retooling`. Industry leaders recognize the importance of 4IR and are adopting innovative models for their operations.