Ajey Lele

Quantum Technologies and Military Strategy

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp. Capt. Ajey Lele’s book "Quantum Technologies and Military Strategy", has been published by Springer publications

India’s foray into the commercial space market

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp. Capt. Ajey Lele’s commentary ‘India’s foray into the commercial space market’ has been published by The Space Review’ on March 01, 2021.

Countries like India have expertise and infrastructure when it comes to space industry and space economics, but is on the periphery of this movement today. To emerge as a major player in the global space market, India needs to think big, writes Gp. Capt Lele.

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Published: 2 March, 2021

Institutions That Shaped Modern India: ISRO

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp. Capt Ajey Lele’s book ‘Institutions That Shaped Modern India: ISRO’ has been published under Rupa Publications.

Part of a series on Institutions that Shaped Modern India, the volume offers an in-depth introduction to one such institution—the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It tells the story of ISRO from its inception to present times. Capturing its history and its evolution, dotted with several achievements and some setbacks, and offering deep insights into ISRO’s key projects—past, present and future—the book is an ode to an institution that has been at the steering wheel of India’s journey into space and has played a seminal role in nation-building.

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Published: 22 January, 2021

Twitter Ban on President Trump: Opportunity for Introspection

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp. Capt. Ajey Lele’s Commentary, ‘Twitter Ban on President Trump: Opportunity for Introspection’ has been published by Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict (SSPC), on January 12, 2021.

The commentary analyses the business monopoly of social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and others, and their control over global digital content.

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Published: 12 January, 2021

Behind China’s Space Ambitions, A Battle For Tech Supremacy

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp. Capt. Ajey Lele’s article ‘Behind China's Space Ambitions, A Battle For Tech Supremacy’ has been published in Strategic News Global.

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Published: 28 November, 2020

How ISRO handled the pandemic

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp. Capt. Ajey Lele’s article ‘How ISRO handled the pandemic’ has been published in ‘The Space Review’ on November 09, 2020.

Over the years, ISRO has clearly identified its tasks for social, scientific, strategic, and commercial sectors. The ongoing pandemic could force a reassessment of some of their priorities, but this pause in launches is simply unaffordable. There could be challenges, of course, but still the show must go on, writes Gp. Capt. Lele.

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Published: 9 November, 2020

Artemis Accords: Unilateralization In Space

Senior Fellow Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp. Capt. Ajey Lele’s commentary ‘Artemis Accords: Unilateralization In Space’, co-written with former Policy Analyst, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Shri V. Gopalakrishnan, has been published by Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict (SSPC) on October 24, 2020.

The commentary analyses the Artemis Accord signed by the United States, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom (UK) for exploring the Moon, Mars, Comets, and Asteroids, together. The in-depth paper intends to deliberate on the political and legal dimensions of the Artemis programme. The program is named Artemis, the Greek goddess of the Moon and twin sister to Apollo. However, besides its cosmic connection, it stands for Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS).

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Published: 24 October, 2020

The forthcoming 2+2 India-US deliberations: Here’s what to look forward

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp. Capt. Ajey Lele’s article ‘The forthcoming 2+2 India-US deliberations: Here’s what to look forward’ has been published in ‘The Financial Express’ on October 23, 2020.

There is a prevalent view amongst the experts that Joseph Biden-Kamala Harris winning the US elections may not be in the best interest of India. This is not to say that Donald Trump’s India policies have been music to India’s ear for the last four years. Probably, that is why just a week before going to the elections in the US, the 2+2 dialogue, between the defence and foreign ministers of India and the US would be held on October 26-27, 2020 in New Delhi. This mechanism began during 2018 and the 2020 dialogue would be the third such dialogue, says Gp. Capt. Lele.

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Published: 23 October, 2020

Venus: science and politics

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp. Capt Ajey Lele’s commentary ‘Venus: Science and Politics’ has been published by ‘The Space Review’ on September 21, 2020.

The recent discovery indicating the possibility of life in the atmosphere of Venus is very exciting news for the scientific community. One can expect that now more research regarding Venus and its atmosphere will be funded, including missions by NASA and other space agencies, writes Gp. Capt. Lele.

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Published: 21 September, 2020

Mars race rhetoric

Senior Fellow MP-IDSA, Gp. Capt. Ajey Lele’s commentary ‘Mars race rhetoric’ has been published in ‘The Space Review’ on August 03, 2020.

Nations would go to Mars only when they have clarity about their scientific focus and have capacity (both technical and economic) to develop spacecraft for such purposes. It is highly unlikely that, in the 21st century, nations will race against each other to conquer Mars, writes Gp. Capt. Lele.

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