This issue includes looks at modernization of the armed forces through budgetary allocations, the Navy's submarine arm, maritime security, projections of IAF equipment over the next 20 years, directed energy weapons technology, and oceanographic studies. It also includes an analysis of the recently concluded India-China Border Defence Cooperation Agreement.

Editorial

Perspective

• Assessing Modernization of the Indian Armed Forces through Budgetary Allocations
  -- Amit Cowshish
• Is the Submarine Arm Losing its Punch?
  -- Sataluri Govind
• Border Defence Cooperation Agreement: The Icebreaker in Making?
  -- Bijoy Das

Focus

• Maritime Security in the Indian Ocean: An Indian Perspective
  -- Sarabjeet Singh Parmar
• IAF Equipment and Force Structure Requirements to Meet External Threats, 2032
  -- Vivek Kapur
• Directed Energy Weapons for the Indian Armed Forces
  -- Bishwajit Bose

Commentary

• New Perspective for Oceanographic Studies in the Indian Ocean Region
  -- Arnab Das

Book Reviews

• Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb, by Feroz Hassan Khan
  -- S. Samuel C. Rajiv
• Critical Issues in Indian Politics: India’s Foreign Policy, edited by Kanti P. Bajpai and Harsh V. Pant Critical Issues in Indian Politics: India’s National Security, edited by Kanti P. Bajpai and Harsh V. Pant
  -- Stuti Banerjee