As part of Vimarsh series of lectures on 21 Jan 2021, Admiral Karambir Singh, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff spoke on “Changing Contours of Competition and Conflict - Implications for Indian Navy”.
The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) invited Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC, for a public discourse on “National Security Challenges and Air Power”. 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.
The US Department of Defence (DoD) Annual Report of 2020 on China Military Power released in September 2020 brings out China’s meteoric military progress in recent years. The report states that China is already ahead of the United States in certain areas such as shipbuilding, land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missiles, and integrated air defence system.
India’s security dilemmas are complex, with two hostile powers on its frontiers and a large number of internal fault lines which are vulnerable and have been exploited by the adversaries in the past. The Indian Army Doctrine of 2018 defines ‘the collusive external threat from adversaries as well as the internal instability due to state/non-state sponsored proxy war’ as the primary security challenge to India.
Conceptualising the foundations of national defence and organising a conformingly robust military structure is a humungous task of extremely complexities. Even nations who possess pristine strategic vision and deep rooted military culture find it practically impossible to home on to the right equation between their political goals, military power and optimal resource allocation.
This is an article exploring some of our wars in the Indian Himalayas to derive correct lessons for future conflict management. In light of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and future theatre commands, restructuring and reorientation for the future is already on, but with Covid-19 and its aftermath, there is an urgency and imperative to accelerate changes. While the Indian armed forces are much better prepared to fight the integrated battle, it is still important to revisit doctrines and debacles as a reiteration of important lessons of mountain warfare.
India is at the cusp of metamorphosing from a regional player to one with global clout. As India’s geo-political and economic ambitions grow, it needs to develop robust indigenous manufacturing capabilities and ecosystem to secure its ambition for self-reliance in the Aerospace and Defence industry.
This book is a compilation of 30 pioneering papers on issues connected with India's national defence. These papers are a part of the vast repository of VIF publications over the past decade of its functioning as a strategic think tank with the purpose of addressing the complex commitments on defence that the State has been confronted with. The titles have been selected to cover a wide range of aspects of national defence and military administration, thus depicting a panorama of India`s military security challenges.
The Indian armed forces form an important component in projecting the Government of India’s foreign policy on the world stage. India has always projected and cultivated a well-rounded relationship with its neighbours as well as with countries beyond the region, increasingly the armed forces of India have and will in the future contribute to this holistic out reach.
… there are many hurdles to cross in our endeavour to reform our system of national defence to meet the parameters of the nation’s military threats, technological and industrial capacities and fiscal affordability… The CDS … would be just one ‘cog’, albeit a central one, in the management of national defence … it would need a conducive ground to perform in the best manner desired ... In order reap the advantages its full measure, there have to be rebuilt the entire system of our defence management – defence reforms, in short …