Journal of Defence Studies

High End in the Pacific: Envisioning the Upper Limits of India-US Naval Cooperation in Pacific-Asia

The article argues that India and the United States are poised to strengthen their bilateral strategic convergences, not only in the Indian Ocean but also in Pacific-Asia that lies eastwards of the Malacca Straits, and wherein India’s geo-strategic stakes as well as its military-strategic footprint are likely to increase in the coming years. This would progressively enhance the complementarities between their navies in the western Pacific and its contiguous seas, thereby enabling substantive naval cooperation towards ensuring security and stability in the broader Indo-Pacific region.

A Rock between Hard Places: Afghanistan as an Arena of Regional Insecurity, by Kristian Berg Harpviken and Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh

The book, A Rock between Hard Places, is the result of research carried out by K.B. Harpviken and S. Tadjbakhsh, independently and jointly, with encouragement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway. In this book, the authors have examined the events unfolding in Afghanistan from a regional perspective up to 2015, set against the backdrop of the scheduled withdrawal of the United States (US)-led military alliance.

Foreign Policy and Sea Power: India’s Maritime Role Flux

The core argument this article makes is that India’s maritime worldview and role conceptions have not only been evolving since the 1950s, but they have also been closely interlinked with how policymakers thought about India’s regional identity and the state’s economic capacity to release resources towards sea power. Today, there are three maritime role conceptions that are vying for the apex’s strategic attention, and they are reflective of a deeper role flux in India’s regional identity.

War from the Ground Up: Twenty-first-century Combat as Politics, by Emile Simpson

War from the Ground Up is not easy reading. The author’s erudition, bolstered by a wealth of detail and historical context, makes this one of the more serious studies on contemporary military conflict. Emile Simpson has attempted to arrive at an overall understanding of war in its contemporary and traditional forms by drawing on his experience of three tours as an infantry officer with the Royal Gurkha Rifles in Afghanistan.

Examining the US Defence Acquisition Apparatus: What can India Learn?

The United States (US) defence acquisition apparatus, arguably the biggest in the world, has undergone several reforms in the past 100 years. The reforms, which have focused on both structural and procedural aspects of acquisition, have led to establishment of authority and accountability in acquisition; articulation of a detailed regulatory mechanism; a dedicated university to impart training to acquisition workforce; and a clear incentive structure for the domestic industry.

Standing Committee on Defence’s Prescription for increasing Capital Budget May Not Work

The Thirty-first Report of the Standing Committee on Defence (SCoD)1 was submitted to Parliament on 9 March 2017. The report examined the capital outlay for the defence services for the year 2017–18, procurement policy of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and defence planning. A glance through the report showed that, apart from a rather sketchy analysis of these issues, the committee has only ended up making hackneyed observations and recommendations that have been made repeatedly in the past without much success.

The Darkening Web: The War for Cyberspace, by Alexander Klimburg

The introduction to Alexander Klimburg’s book, The Darkening Web: The War for Cyberspace, begins by referencing the Indian parable of the Blind Men of Hindoostan and the elephant to bring out the difficulty of ‘grasping the entirety of cyberspace’. The focus of his book is on international security, and more specifically, the security interests of states in cyberspace. That said, a large part of the book focuses on three countries—the United States, Russia and China—and their approaches and actions in cyberspace. Europe is mentioned largely in the context of privacy and data laws.

The New Arthashastra: A Security Strategy for India, edited by Gurmeet Kanwal

The clamour for a national security strategy has become part of a constant refrain that accompanies every debate on India’s strategic culture or national security outlook. This repeated call for a security strategy stems from a perceived lack of clarity for functionaries within the government as well as the larger audience. An important constituent amongst the latter are a large number of countries that increasingly look upon India as an important partner in the evolving geopolitical environment.

Assessing Maritime Power in the Asia-Pacific, edited by Greg Kennedy and Harsh V. Pant

Since taking over in 2009, the Obama Administration considered Asia to be significant for power cooperation and for establishing an international order based on accepted rules and norms. This started the journey of a much-debated concept that was first called the ‘Back to Asia’ strategy and later re-termed as a ‘Rebalance’ or ‘Pivot to Asia’. In November 2011, then American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in an article titled ‘America’s Pacific Century’, reiterated the importance of Asia-Pacific for the United States (US).

Air Support for Internal Security Operations: What India can Learn from Trinidad and Tobago

Air power has long been recognised as a useful asset in internal security operations, running the full gamut from militarised counter-insurgency (CI) and counter-terrorist (CT) operations to the mundane task of crowd control. In the last 15 years, the archipelagic state of Trinidad and Tobago has made extensive use of air assets for internal security operations, with mixed results. In the process, some lessons have been learnt and some serious mistakes made that can be instructive for even large countries such as India.

International Military Exercises: An Indian Perspective

International military exercises are an extension of military training for partner countries and a significant military diplomacy tool. Since 2012, the Indian armed forces have engaged 23 countries in 93 international military exercises. This article analyses the data regarding these exercises in terms of the participating countries and services. Outlining the benefits and possible pitfalls of participation in international military exercises, it suggests a holistic policy review on the subject.

India’s Wars: A Military History, 1947–1971, by Arjun Subramaniam

In this first of two volumes, Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam offers excellent and concise histories of India’s wars and military operations, starting with the rescue and partial liberation of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947-48 from depredating Pakistani irregulars and ending with the 1971 war for the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan’s genocidal rule. Based on published material available, and supplementing it with interviews, Subramaniam’s India’s Wars provides a layered perspective on the strategic, operational and tactical aspects of these wars and operations.

Transfer of Defence Technology: Exploring the Avenues for India

India has been the recipient of transfers of defence technology predominantly through the licensed manufacture mode which, while being cheap and easy to implement, has some major limitations. This article looks into alternate modes of technology transfer and explores additional possibilities through a broad perspective on technology development. It also attempts to assess the relative strengths of each mode, the challenges in implementation and indicate a way forward to meet suitable national goals.

Public–Private Partnership for MRO in Defence: Application to Aerospace and Land Systems

This article examines the various aspects of employing public–private partnership (PPP) for carrying out maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activities for aerospace and land forces in India. PPP in MRO is expected to increase the uptime of the existing equipment, and enable their full exploitation. It would enable harnessing the efficiencies of the private sector while using the resources existing in the public sector. The broad concepts and operational philosophy of MRO for defence equipment are also covered.

War Crimes, Atrocity and Justice, by Michael J. Shapiro

Human history has been witness to many war crimes and atrocities. But it is only in the twentieth century that one sees institutionalised, global attempts to fix responsibility for such crimes and to bring justice to the victims of such unspeakable, horrific crimes against humanity. However, most would agree that these attempts have hardly made a huge difference either in getting justice for victims and giving them closure or in deterring such crimes. Through War Crimes, Atrocity, and Justice, Michael J.

Aspects of Leadership: Ethics, Law and Spirituality by Carroll Connelley and Paolo Tripodi

Leadership and ethics have inseparable connect and have been an integral part of the discourse on leadership in general and military leadership in particular. This consistent focus on the subject for military men is a Indian context, it is all the more important since the armed forces have had a visible and critical role in nation-building since independence. This role has extended from safeguarding the country from external

Japan’s Foreign and Security Policy Under the ‘Abe Doctrine’: New Dynamism or New Dead End?, by Christopher W. Hughes

Given the fluidity in East Asian geopolitics and China’s arrival as a key variable in the international system, Japan has been forced to respond to the asymmetrical power politics. As China is carving out a sphere of influence for itself which is increasingly eclipsing Japan’s international stature, Abe has the task of presenting the case of where and how does Japan fit in.

International Law on the Use of Force against Terrorists since 9/11: The Contrasting Cases of Israel and India

The international law on the use of force against terrorists has experienced a radical revision since the rise of transnational jihad of Al-Qaeda. It has sufficiently expanded to accommodate actions against terrorists in foreign territory in the wake of terrorist attacks, particularly when the foreign State is hosting terrorists and not cooperating with the victim State. However, the new legal framework does not give carte blanche to States to use force against terrorists. While using force States must strictly follow the law.

Economic Sanctions as an Option to Fight Pakistan Sponsored Terrorism

Nuclearisation of the Indian subcontinent limits conventional military options available to India for punishing Pakistan’s employment of terrorism as a tool of state policy. While India has rightly balanced the use of diplomatic and limited military means over a period of time, even as these remain relevant, the option of economic sanctions deserves deeper analysis for its efficacy and impact. Economic measures can be undertaken both in the form of direct and indirect actions against a target country, individual or an organisation with varied degrees of impact.

Military Change: Survival of the Most Adaptable

The Greek philosopher Thucydides famously stated the proximate words: ‘The only constant [in life] is change’. (Even the most stable isotope, Tellerium-128, changes; it will decay to half its mass in 2.2 septillion years!) Change, therefore, is inevitable and takes place in every animate and inanimate thing and becomes necessary to remain relevant in the environment that one lives in. If your enemy changes his way of fighting and you do not, then a dysfunction in countering your enemy is inevitable.