Journal of Defence Studies

The US Defence Acquisition System

This paper makes an attempt to analyse and evaluate the US Department of Defence Acquisition System by highlighting the relationship of the requirements generation and budgeting process, the key actors,...

Managing Supersession in the Armed Forces: An HRM Approach

Supersession is too important an aspect of organizational existence to be dismissed lightly. It is a situation to be managed jointly by the organization and affected individual with the clear...

Promotion System in the Army: Dealing with Peacetime Atrophy

In practice, it has been found that a peacetime army tends to atrophy and lose its war fighting orientation. It develops a lopsided emphasis on peacetime routine, spit and polish....

Revoking AFSPA Blown Out of Proportion

The current spurt in violent activities in valley and death of civilians in police actions against unruly mobs is a cause of serious concern and requires introspection not only by...

Declining Naxalism from Central Bihar

The Naxal problem has become the biggest internal threat to the country. Especially after the comments of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2007, it has become a matter of...

India and Japan: Exploring Strategic Potentials

The strategic environment of the world, particularly in Asia, is in a state of dramatic flux. The overwhelming economic and military presence of the United States in Asia is on...

The New Great Instability: Afghanistan after the American Exit

The present paper discusses about the new great instability in Afghanistan which had emerged after 2001. It builds four scenarios by looking into the impending American withdrawal from Afghanistan and...

Erik Seedhouse, The New Space Race: China vs. the United States

In wake of the increasing attention received by China’s space programme, it has been posited by some that a new space race, akin to the space race between the United...

Human Resources in Security Sector: An Integrated Model for the 21st Century

The challenge of management of human resources may be the most profound in the security sector in the years ahead given transformations happening globally and enhancement of human potential and...

Cold Start and ‘The Sehjra Option’

The Cold Start doctrine is an innovative exercise. While Cold Start discusses how to start the campaign, equal thinking needs to attend how to end it. On the conventional level,...

Salient Issues Affecting Defence Manpower in India

Manpower costs are increasingly becoming unmanageable and are driving national security planners towards thinking creatively about what used to be called ‘affordable defence’. Despite leap-frogging from third to fourth generation...

Social Networking: Boon or Bane for the Armed Forces

The social networking sites can be exploited by the cyber operators by infiltration and influencing the opinion where feasible. Cyber espionage has already became the cornerstone of some nations, where...

India-China Defence Cooperation and Military Engagement

Defence cooperation and military engagement between India and China are aspects of the complex mix of conflict and cooperation approach to bilateral relations between the two Asian giants. It is...

Priyanjali Malik, India’s Nuclear Debate: Exceptionalism and the Bomb

Priyanjali Malik’s book titled ‘India’s Nuclear Debate: Exceptionalism and the Bomb’, attempts to examine the public debate which took place among the Indian elite as well as the middle class...

Striking Balance among Diverse Oversight Concerns in Defence Acquisition

Transparency in public procurement bears an immediate cost both for government and bidders. However, it is a key element to support fundamental principles of the public procurement system, especially competition...

Streamlining Defence Acquisition Process

The process for Defence Acquisitions in India has evolved considerably in the last decade or so, and is being refined further. The Ministry of Defence recognizes the importance of timely...

Weaponisation of Space and India’s Options

During Cold War era, space became an essential adjunct for war-fighting on the ground, without becoming another theatre of combat. While militarization of space proceeded rapidly, the weaponisation of space...

The Nuclear Posture Review: Not a Credible Game-Changer for Nuclear North Korea

The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) emphasis two realities, first the challenge of nuclear terrorism and proliferation; and second, it affirms the end of the Cold War rivalries. But the “resetting”...

Human Resource Development Strategy for Sub-Conventional Warfare

Army personnel trained and equipped for conventional warfare find themselves at a disadvantage when deployed for sub-conventional operations. The advancement in technology, changing warfare concepts, induction of sophisticated weapons and...

India’s Conflict Strategy: The Legal Angle

Continued engagement with LOAC and IHL is ongoing with the Judge Advocates General Department taking the primary role. Its training institution in Kamptee is at the forefront. There has been...