Military Affairs
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  • About Centre

    The Centre for Military Affairs comprises of a mix of serving officers of the Indian Armed Forces and civilian experts. The Centre adopts an inter-disciplinary approach to various issues that impinge upon India's national security in general and the armed forces in particular. Its research focus is on issues that impact upon national security and capacity-building of the Indian armed forces. Specific areas of focus include: emerging contemporary challenges in warfare, jointness, defence co-operation, maritime security, and military training needs. In addition, the Centre also addresses China- and Pakistan-related issues with a bearing on their interface with Indian security. The Centre closely interacts with military establishments in India and abroad and contributes to policy making by conducting research in areas of significance for the armed forces.

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    India's Military Strategy: Countering Pakistan's Challenge

    • Publisher: Bloomsbury
      2022
    This book explores what military strategy is and how it is interconnected with policy on one hand and military operations on the other. In the process, it traces the transformation of the notion of strategy from its original military moorings to a more policy-oriented and-influenced conception and elaborates upon a tripartite framework of policy, strategy and doctrine to think about, understand, and analyse the use of force. The book explores the politics of India-Pakistan conflict in order to root the study of Indian military strategy in the political sphere. It discusses three main issues that have ensured the persistence of conflict: incompatible national identities, Pakistan's congenital quest for parity with and compulsion to challenge India, and irreconcilable positions on the Kashmir issue. The book argues that India has invariably pursued limited political aims that did not threaten Pakistan's survival or form of government or regime in power albeit containing a counter offensive elements. It states that India employed the strategy of exhaustion during the Indian Army's campaigns in the 1947-48 conflict and 1965 war, which made way to strategy of annihilation during the 1971 war (East Pakistan), but after Pakistan's acquisition of nuclear weapons capability the strategy is back to exhaustion. The book highlights the importance of designing an overall military strategy for waging limited war and pursuing carefully calibrated political and military objectives by creatively combining the individual doctrines of the three services by establishing a Chief of Defence Staff system.
    • ISBN: 9789356400023 ,
    • Price: ₹ 1299/-
    2022

    1971 India-Pakistan War: 50 Years Later

    • Publisher: Pentagon Press
      2022
    India’s decisive and historic victory in the 1971 India–Pakistan War is considered to be one of the landmark geopolitical events in the history of the sub-continent. One of the shortest wars in world history, fought for a mere 13 days, the lightning campaign brought about a change in the world’s perception of India, marking its recognition as an important regional power.

    The combined impact created by the resolute people of Bangladesh and the professional approach of the Indian state, successfully converted a catastrophe of epic proportions into a victory of the people, won through their stoic resolve and the professionalism of the armed forces.

    There have been a number of books, memoirs and articles over the years that have documented first-person and academic accounts of events that marked this period of history. Not surprisingly, most were written during the period succeeding the war and after the birth of Bangladesh. This book is an attempt to evaluate events with the benefit of a five-decade time lapse. In doing so, the focus remains firmly on the military aspects of the war, accompanied by a brief account of political events, diplomacy, influence of major powers, public perception and the role of Mukti Bahini.

    • ISBN:9789390095698 ,
    • Price: ₹ 1495
    • E-copy available
    2022

    Indian Defence Diplomacy: A Handbook

    The discipline of defence diplomacy picked up salience as an important component of foreign policy with most major militaries by the end of the Cold War. Particularly, in the last three decades, it has become a vital instrument in the diplomatic tool-bag of most countries.

    2021

    India–China Rivalry: Asymmetric No Longer: An Assessment of China’s Evolving Perceptions of India

    • Publisher: KW Publishers
      2021
    In recent years, there has been growing interest in deciphering the nature and contours of bilateral dynamics between India and China, since the contours bilateral dynamics between the two rising powers have potential implications for the evolving geopolitical order in the region and even beyond. This book is not about understanding the nature of rivalry dynamics between India and China but prominently focuses on China’s mental and emotional image of India, which has remained an underexplored dimension in contemporary scholarship.

    The aim of the book is two-fold. First, this book is an effort to analyse China’s contemporary perceptual image about India primarily through the analysis of Chinese publications on the subject. Second, this book questions the prevalent notion of characterising India-China rivalry as ‘one-sided’ or ‘asymmetric.’

    Unarguably, power asymmetry, with substantial Chinese advantage, has been a persistent characteristic of India-China relations and is likely to remain or even grow further. India, being weaker in this dyad, naturally has a greater threat perception vis-à-vis China. However, this apparent power asymmetry does not provide China with an overwhelming advantage over India.

    The book argues that India has been and continues to be a ‘strategic rival’ in Chinese perception even though it is not categorised by China as its ‘principal rival.’ In the contemporary period, as India expands its defence capabilities, extends its regional outreach and deepens its engagement with major powers, Beijing has begun to factor New Delhi into its strategic calculus even more seriously.

    • ISBN: 978-93-91490-01-0 ,
    • Price: ₹. 980/-
    • E-copy available
    2021

    CDS and Beyond Integration of the Indian Armed Forces

    • Publisher: KW Publishers
      2021
    Defence reforms are a challenge for most countries. The lessons from India’s experience suggest that major change has almost always been mandated from the very top. The ongoing structural changes are also being driven by the highest political office in a bid to seek integration, indigenisation and greater effectiveness of the armed forces.

    The ongoing military reforms began with the appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and creation of the Department of Military Affairs. Future changes are likely to include the creation of theatre commands, functional commands, restructuring of Army Headquarters and a number of other associated shifts in conjunction with these big bang reforms.

    It would not be an exaggeration to say that these changes are perhaps the most far-reaching military reforms in India’s post-independence history.

    The book undertakes a focussed assessment of the changes that commenced with the appointment of CDS. This includes the role and inter-se co-relation between major stake holders and defence departments. Keeping in view the need to enhance operational effectiveness, recommendations regarding the chain of command, rank structures and role of service chiefs have been made. The book will also analyse the structure and role of the future Air Defence and Logistics Command.

    • ISBN: 978 819 52 858 4 6 ,
    • Price: ₹. 918/-
    • E-copy available
    2021

    Conduct and Discipline in United Nations Peace Operations and India’s Perspective

    The United Nations Charter requires that all UN personnel mustmaintain the highest standards of integrity and conduct. The UN is committed to ensuring that all its personnel deployed globally serve with professionalism, courtesy and dignity. Allegations of Misconduct as well as Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by peacekeepers from various nations have often tarnished the image of the mission they represent and UN in general.

    July-September 2022

    Evaluating Jointness in the Indian Military: A Conceptual and Methodological Approach

    The institutionalisation of jointness in the Indian military is a key driver of ongoing defence reforms. To attain this goal, the Indian Armed Forces are encapsulating principles of joint warfare, inhabiting joint capabilities and inculcating joint culture. However, the pace and process of jointness in the Indian military has been contentious since Independence. This article seeks to evaluate the state and nature of jointness in the Indian military by employing Jackson’s conceptual and methodological model for joint military activities.

    January-March 2022

    The Sino-Indian Geopolitics and Maritime Security of the Indian Ocean Region

    The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is a prominent arena in international politics, in terms of trade, tourism, population, among other aspects. Several countries, some unconnected geographically, have shown interest in these waters. These entities offer financial, technical, infrastructural and capacity-building support, and security services to several IOR countries. India, the prominent resident power of this ocean, and others, consider this development unnecessary, uncalled for and unacceptable.

    January 2021

    The Concept of Active Defence in China's Military Strategy, by Amrita Jash

    The strategy articulated by Deng Xiaoping in 1990 as a guiding tenet of China's foreign policy was: “Observe calmly, secure our position, cope with affairs calmly, hide our capacities and bide our time, be good at maintaining a low profile, and never claim leadership 1”.

    April-June 2021

    Countering Islamic State Ideology: Voices of Singapore Scholars edited by Muhammad Haniff Hassan and Rohan Gunaratna, with a Foreword by Karen Armstrong

    People often complain that Islamic scholars do little more than condemn the inhuman acts of so-called jihadist groups and fall short of delivering strong, incontrovertible rebuttals against the vicious narratives of terrorist groups, like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS). It has also been stated that the ever-rearing Hydra-like heads of terrorism will have to be endlessly severed until genuine Islamic scholarship drains the very swamp of irreligious radicalism from which the monstrosity continually raises new and ugly distortions.

    April-June 2021

    Defence Budget 2024-25: Trend Analysis

    The budget estimates for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for 2024-25 are Rs 621,540.85 crore, constituting 13.04 percent of the total Union Budget and 4.7 per cent higher than BE 2023-24.

    February 16, 2024

    Mahabharata: A Strategic Overview

    The Indian way of conceptualising war, employment of force, use of diplomacy, guidance for soldiering and capability development has a long and rich tradition that emerges from texts like the Mahabharata.

    November 22, 2023

    Attack on Sevastopol: Key Takeaways

    The successful Ukrainian missile strike on the Russian naval base in Sevastopol, Crimea on 13 September 2023 could force the Russian Navy to relocate the Black Sea Fleet to Novorossiysk on the Russian mainland, which could increase supply chain vulnerabilities.

    October 04, 2023

    Hybridity in Warfare: A Compelling Dimension in Modern Wars

    Policy-makers need to recalibrate modernisation programmes from the earlier focus on traditional military capability needs to a mix of kinetic and non-kinetic hybrid war-fighting capabilities.

    July 21, 2023

    US Cluster Munitions for Ukraine: Military Context and Legal Considerations

    The provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions are not relevant in the extant case of supply of dual purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) to Ukraine.

    July 14, 2023

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