Ajey Lele

Group Captain (Dr) Ajey Lele (Retd.) is the Deputy Director General, MP-IDSA. Earlier, he was a Senior Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and a part of its Centre on Strategic Technologies. He started his professional career as an officer in the Indian Air Force, and took early retirement from the service to pursue his academic interests. He has a Masters degree in Physics from Pune University, and Masters and MPhil degrees in Defence and Strategic Studies from Madras University. He has done his doctorate from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. His specific areas of research include issues related to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), Space Security and Strategic Technologies. He has contributed articles to various national and international journals, websites and newspapers. He has authored ten books and has also been an editor for eight books. He is a recipient of the K. Subrahmanyam Award (2013) which is conferred for outstanding contribution in the area of strategic and security studies

Deputy Director General

Publication

Ajey Lele’s Article ‘Anthropic and AI’s Oppenheimer Moment: How Israel-US Are Blurring Ethical Lines in Iran War’ Published in The Wire

Deputy Director General, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt (Dr) Ajey Lele’s article ‘Anthropic and AI’s Oppenheimer Moment: How Israel-US Are Blurring Ethical Lines in Iran War’ has been published in ‘The Wire’ on 06 March 2026. While Anthropic is willing to prioritise ethical considerations over immediate profits, insisting on responsible and lawful use of its AI tools, companies like OpenAI are ready to fulfil the US military demands, writes Gp Capt Lele. Read Complete Article [+] Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

Ajey Lele’s Commentary ‘Iran War and the Silence of the Lambs!’ Published SSPC

Deputy Director General, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt (Dr) Ajey Lele’s commentary ‘Iran War and the Silence of the Lambs!’ has been published in Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict (SSPC) on 06 March 2026. Amidst the escalating tension concerning Iran, two of the world’s most influential nations are observing from the sidelines: Russia and China, frequently identified as Tehran’s strategic allies. It is known that there have been no binding defense commitments in this regard; however, as major powers positioning themselves as challengers to US dominance, more was expected from them, says Gp Capt Lele. Read Complete Article [+] Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

Ajey Lele’s Article ‘AI Impact Summit 2026: India’s Gains on Stage and the Questions Offstage’ Published in The Wire

Deputy Director General, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt (Dr) Ajey Lele’s article ‘AI Impact Summit 2026: India's Gains on Stage and the Questions Offstage’ has been published in ‘The Wire’ on 23 February 2026. Via the AI Impact Summit Declaration, India was successful in putting across the views of Global South during this summit in front of the developed world and major AI tech giants who are mainly controlling the AI business, writes Gp Capt Lele. Read Article [+] Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

Ajey Lele’s Article ‘Invoking Sutras and Chakras’ published in Raksha Anirveda

Deputy Director General, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt (Dr) Ajey Lele’s article ‘Invoking Sutras and Chakras’ has been published in Raksha Anirveda on 16 February 2026. The fourth Global AI Impact Summit is of critical importance for India, as it provides an opportunity to position itself as a leader from the Global South in the global AI governance landscape. Grounding its agenda within a framework that invokes Sutras and Chakras, the AI Impact Summit signals an intent to move the global AI debate from technological abstraction toward a language of coherence, alignment, and transformation, says Gp Cap Lele. Read Complete Article [+] Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

Ajey Lele’s Article ‘4th Artificial Intelligence (AI) summit: Shaping global governance for greater good’ Published in Taazakhabar News

Deputy Director General, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt (Dr) Ajey Lele’s article ‘4th Artificial Intelligence (AI) summit: Shaping global governance for greater good’ has been published in Taazakhabar News on 15 February 2026. AI governance is complex, and technological change is unpredictable. Progress on norms will likely be slow, voluntary, and based on evolving consensus rather than binding rules. Recognising these limits is essential to keep efforts credible, flexible, and inclusive, writes Gp Capt Lele. Read Complete Article [+] Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

Ajey Lele’s Article ‘Space-based Data Centres: The Next Frontier of AI Infrastructure’ Published in The Wire

Deputy Director General, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt (Dr) Ajey Lele’s article ‘Space-based Data Centres: The Next Frontier of AI Infrastructure’ has been published in ‘The Wire’ on 10 February 2026. Several major tech companies, private space firms and national agencies are racing to develop AI data centres in orbit to overcome the earth’s growing constraints around energy, cooling and land, writes Gp Capt Lele. Read Complete Article [+] Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

Ajey Lele’s Article ‘The PSLV-C62 failure marks a setback for India’s space ambitions’ Published in The Space Review

Deputy Director General, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt (Dr) Ajey Lele’s article ‘The PSLV-C62 failure marks a setback for India’s space ambitions’ has been published in ‘The Space Review’ on 19 January 2026. The back-to-back failures will momentarily derail ISRO’s space ambitions, with some projected timelines for future missions likely to slip further. ISRO will need to learn from recent failures and move on, writes Gp Capt Lele. Read Complete Article [+] Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

Ajey Lele’s Article ‘Can India Shape the Script of Global AI Governance? Or Is It Already Written?’ Published in The Wire

Deputy Director General, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt Ajey Lele’s article ‘Can India Shape the Script of Global AI Governance? Or Is It Already Written?’ has been published in ‘The Wire’ on 15 January 2026. India’s expectations for the 2026 AI Impact Summit are more consensus-oriented. As host, India aims to promote a global framework that balances safety, inclusion, and growth while amplifying Global South perspectives, writes Gp Capt Lele. Read Complete Article [+] Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.