Russia’s efforts to differentiate between the Islamic State and Taliban are a mistake given that both groups share a similar ideology, albeit with slight variations.
The main threat to Mexico comes from illegal privately-operated aircraft which are heavily involved in smuggling. The inability of the Mexican Air Force to guarantee the integrity of its own airspace is therefore a matter of concern.
There is a strong case for abandoning the present approach of looking at the defence budget through the narrow prism of allocation and utilisation, and instead focus on outcomes.
For the financial year 2017-18, the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) has been allocated Rs. 83,823 crore, a hike of around 11.5 per cent over that of the previous year. Though the Union government has been providing substantial budget support to the MHA to aid its reform and modernisation programs, the ministry’s efforts to bring about desired reforms have shown mixed results so far.
This commentary is inspired by the Annual Gorkha Brigade Conference held at New Delhi on 11 February 2017 and the unique relationship between India and Nepal that this military connection underpins.
On 5 February 2017, a version of the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) was unveiled. The aptly-named “Advanced Hawk” is a joint-venture between BAE Systems and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). It has been developed using internal funds on an equal risk basis and offers significant enhancement of the capabilities of the basic Hawk AJT.
The objective of asking these question should be to elicit information that generates a well-informed debate on, and facilitates the result-oriented monitoring of, the MoD’s handling of matters related to the defence budget.
