Journal of Defence Studies

Air power has played a critical role in counter-insurgency and irregular warfare across the world. India’s own rich experience is full of documented roles of air power in such campaigns. This article documents the unique experience of Indian air power in ‘robust’ peacekeeping under the United Nations (UN) flag in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2003– 2010. A modelling is attempted to understand doctrinal and conceptual issues of this experience. Lessons are gleaned to improve air power’s effectiveness in such less-than-war situations.

• Rajesh Isser |
• April-June 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The ever-growing dependence of man on cybernetworks has unbridled a modish genre of cyberthreat called cyberterrorism. The pervasive cyberspace has provided an advantageous operational frontier to the terrorists for executing cyberattacks on critical infrastructures, spreading hate propaganda over the Internet and using it for recruitment, planning and effecting terror attacks.

• Rebant Juyal |
• April-June 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

In the larger national strategic discourse, identifying and prioritising the internal security issues and challenges is very crucial. India has been grappling with multiple ‘identity-centric’ and ‘grievance-driven’ challenges that have impacted its security and national fabric for more than seven decades now. While there is no gainsaying that the country has been largely successful in managing these conflicts well below the threshold levels, a durable peace—a prerequisite for national security and development—is as elusive as ever in most of these conflicts.

• Rajbala Rana |
• April-June 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Gwadar Port has gained currency in the light of recent international developments that are increasingly focused on maritime-related economic activities. It has become an important reference point for people discussing the geopolitics and geo-economics of the South Asian region. The article explores in detail the strategic salience of Gwadar against the backdrop of the ongoing Baloch insurgency, the current activities being undertaken at Gwadar, the strategic outlook of Pakistan and China on the port and the implications it holds for China–Pakistan ties.

• Sindhu Dinesh |
• January-March 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

War, when all else fails. The reasons for war could be ideological or for greater control over finite resources but war invariably has violence at its epicentre. Ethics and wars have rarely been concentric in human history; therefore, wars have seen the employment of all possible means. Victory, as the ultimate aim, has forced warring sides to look at multiple options and biological weapons are one such method. Biological weapons are as old as war itself and their primitive recorded use was centuries ago.

• Kishore Kumar Khera |
• January-March 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Historically, navies have been employed for the conduct of trade warfare. However, naval discourse on the subject has ranged from advocacy as prime employment of naval power to relegation as a secondary role that is best avoided. World Wars I and II witnessed wide-ranging application of trade warfare with varying degrees of success. Global seaborne trade has transformed significantly since the great wars, with large merchant fleets servicing an interconnected and globalised trading system.

• Himadri Bose |
• January-March 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

This article deliberates on some ‘disruptive’ issues that will affect employment, doctrine, force development and the very future of exclusive manned air power. Currently, causing asymmetry on the battlefield is considered a virtue rather than a weaker adversary’s option. Pakistan’s strategy against India and Chinese anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) are examples of cheaper but effective means. Driven by rapid advances in technology and confluence of emerging scientific capabilities, warfighting’s character is changing.

• Rajesh Isser |
• January-March 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Brendan Taylor claims that his book is the first systematic analysis of American sanction policy in the Asia-Pacific during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The book is divided into six chapters which include introduction, conclusion as well as policy recommendations.

• Sanjeev Kumar Shrivastav |
• October 2010 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The ‘string of pearls’ is a western narrative about China’s economic and/or military engagements with countries in the Indian Ocean littorals with a strategic outlook of encircling the Indian peninsula. Most of these engagements are established in locations overlooking the important trade Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC) in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The ‘string of pearls’ theory, enunciating an expansionist view of China in the Indian Ocean, is what makes Bertil Lintner’s book a knowledgeable read for Indo-Pacific watchers.

• M. Doraibabu |
• October-December 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Understanding the Chinese Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) has been a challenge for military thinkers and planners due to opacity and secrecy within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This article delves into the traditional relationship between the erstwhile Soviet (now Russian) and Chinese militaries and draw parallels between the two RMA. It argues that in many ways the Chinese RMA has followed the Russian RMA, which was driven by the latter’s experiences in modern wars in Georgia, Ukraine, Crimea, and Syria. The article concludes that the PLA has suitably modified the Russian military doctrines, reorganisation and restructuring as well as the induction of military equipment to suit the threats and challenges that confront it. Military thinkers and planners would do well to study the Russian RMA to extrapolate the future trajectory of the changes that are underway in the PLA.

• Mandip Singh |
• October-December 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Ananth Krishan’s book, India’s China Challenge, is a notable examination of the challenge posed to India by the meteoric rise of China. Krishnan’s stay in China as a journalist for India Today and The Hindu, from 2008 to August 2018, and his knowledge of the Mandarin language have greatly enriched the depth of his examination of the subject. During his stay in China, he travelled to all but three of the country’s 33 provinces and regions, the China–India border in Tibet and Xinjiang, and the trading markets and factories of Guangdong.

• Himadri Bose |
• October-December 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

India’s tryst with its destiny for the twenty-first century will greatly depend upon how it prioritises its strategic necessities in the face of current Covid-19-induced economic crisis. While still on course to be the third largest world economy by 2050, India will need to ensure it has the essential tools—economic, military and diplomatic—by then to provide the necessary leverage as a great world power. Great thinkers have stressed and history has shown that maritime power is one such leverage.

• Roby Thomas |
• October-December 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The ISPR was founded in 1949 as the public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces. However, its role, responsibilities and activities have expanded notably over the last three decades. This article evaluates the role of the ISPR in cyber propaganda via print and electronic media after 1990s. It also sheds light on the ISPR’s youth-internship scheme and its plausible role in digital espionage. The main arguments in this article are derived from information available on official websites of Pakistan military, their local newspapers, and relevant social media platforms.

• Divya Malhotra |
• October-December 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

China has had a chequered relationship with India since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Beijing views India as a strategic rival and appears to consider India’s rise as an impediment to its own. The narratives, especially, convey or hint at India’s gain being China’s loss. Even though bilateral trade between the two countries has become substantial over the years and multiple linkages have been established post the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict, China still keeps India discomfited with its various overtures.

• Atul Pant |
• July-September 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

This article explores the position of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) under the existing rules of international humanitarian law (IHL). It argues that though the existing rules of IHL are sufficient for certain weapons systems, there is a need to develop new rules for fully autonomous weapons systems. The author makes a case that the call for a blanket ban on LAWS in general is premature and the expected use of such weapons must be acknowledged before such a ban is considered.

• Bashir Ali Abbas |
• July-September 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The armed forces are one of the most powerful tools to ensure safety and security of the state from external aggressions. This duty may call upon armed forces personnel to undertake missions with a very high risk to life. To motivate a human being to perform the allocated duty even at the peril of his/her life is an art that armed forces across the globe have mastered. For sustaining such a high level of motivation and to undertake missions in a very organised fashion, military discipline is a key attribute.

• Kishore Kumar Khera |
• July-September 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

It would have been difficult to visualise the current scenario in Sino-Indian relations just before COVID-19 overtook the world narrative. This was considering the immense political capital poured into the relationship by the Indian government, first at Wuhan in 2017 and then in Mamallapuram in 2019. It might be argued by some that the Doklam incident of 2017 should have been enough for India to wake up and smell the coffee.

• Roby Thomas |
• July-September 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The Russo-Japanese War was fought well over a hundred years ago and symbolised the rise of Japan, as it defeated Russia by executing a near-perfect limited war strategy. Japan incisively defined limited political objectives and calibrated its war strategy accordingly.

• Himadri Bose |
• July-September 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Since the Cold War, United Nations peacekeeping has evolved from monitoring peace treaties to multidimensional peacekeeping operations tasked with rebuilding states and their institutions during and after conflict. In June 2014, An Expert Panel on Technology and Innovation in UN Peacekeeping recommended investigating how innovative technology can strengthen peacekeeping missions.

• Swaim Prakash Singh |
• July-September 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Defence, a subset of national security, is an intricate subject. Primarily, defence policy and plans of a state emerge from its national security strategy to achieve its national goals. What happens when a state does not have a declared national security strategy? All stakeholders interpret the security scenario in their way and invariably pull defence policy and plans in multiple directions. Such has been the tale of Indian defence policy and plans since independence.

• Kishore Kumar Khera |
• January-June 2020 |
• Journal of Defence Studies