Journal of Defence Studies

Commercial Evaluation Challenges – The Critical Task of Best and Final Commercial Offer Format – An Optimal Decision Matrix

To prevent diffusion of responsibility, dedicated teams should be in place for the entire duration of a project, especially for non-R&D projects. The team should be mandated to stick to...

Severing the Hawala Trail to and from India

Terror groups need money for procuring weapons, ammunitions, material, communication equipment, recruiting, conducting information operations, housing, and paying compensation to active members and their dependents. Terror organizations utilize a number...

Use of Force: Possibilities in the Indo-Pak Context

My presentation on, “ Use of Force - Possibilities in the Indo – Pak Context ” shall be brief and pointed. I shall make a few salient points, leaving the...

An Empirical Study of Motivation in the Indian Air Force

Motivation in the IAF implies dedicated, reliable and sustained performance from the air warriors under most trying and dangerous situations fraught with risks to life. Consequently, the motivational drives and...

Defence Budgeting: Trends and Issues

The defence budget for the financial year 2009-2010, even though in terms of percentage increase appears large, yet it is not actually so. There has generally been a mismatch between...

Thinking Change in the Armed Forces

History is replete with examples of radical, modest and even failed transformations, thus revealing the fact that the armed forces are intrinsically not flexible enough to accept transformational changes. The...

National Security Decision Making Structures in India: Lessons from the IPKF Involvement in Sri Lanka

A critical appraisal of the national security decision making (NSDM) during IPKF operations is revealing. At every stage, the NSDM was found wanting. The fact that none of the actors...

China and Francophone Western Indian Ocean Region: Implications for Indian Interests

The cooperation between China and Francophone Western Indian Ocean region is now getting more visible, particularly after the China-Africa summit in November 2006. China's new thrust in the Francophone Western...

Climate Change and the Military

India is a responsible regional and global power. The military is a highly energy and material intensive part of a nation. It is also destructive in its primary mission. It...

Military Response to a Future 26/11 – A Dissuasive Analysis

The advantage in foregrounding the military option is in the deterrence value. Further, it helps the military and the government prepare for the exercise of the option in case of...

Sudan – Conflicts, Terror, and Oil

Sudan has been at the cross-roads of conflict for years as two bitter civil wars marred the last decade. It is a prisoner of history as the departing British, to...

Mumbai Redux: Debating India’s Strategic Response Options

A year has elapsed since the Mumbai carnage and there are renewed intelligence inputs about further terrorist attacks on our seaboard. What could be the Pakistani motivations for a resumption...

India’s Defence Public Sector Undertakings: A Performance Analysis

India has established eight Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) whose responsibility is to provide the Armed Forces state-of-the-art equipments and at the same time enhance country's self-reliance in defence production....

The BDR Mutiny: Mystery Remains but Democracy Emerges Stronger

The mutiny in para-military force, Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) took place only two months after the restoration of democracy in Bangladesh. This mutiny nearly upstaged the newly installed Shaikh Hasina government....

Sri Lanka: Dismounting the Tiger

A critical appraisal of the national security decision making (NSDM) during IPKF operations is revealing. At every stage, the NSDM was found wanting. The fact that none of the actors...

Aerial Terrorism

Aerial terrorism is gradually emerging as a potent form of terrorism capable of causing significant damage to human life and infrastructure. Aircrafts and UAVs can be easily used as guided...

Critical Defence Technologies – The DRDO Perspective

DRDO has been the torchbearer of the defence research and development in the country. It has been responsible for identifying critical technologies, working out modalities for technology development and identifying...

Outsourcing and Vendor Development in the Indian Ordnance Factories

Ordnance factories are the oldest and largest single organisation in India's defence industrial set up. The organisation is found to be inefficient and uncompetitive from the angles of market share,...

Community Participation in Border Management

India's territorial borders, both land and sea, suffer from diverse physical, ethnic and cultural contradictions. While the state has a major role in securing war frontier, the populations along territorial...

Keynote Address at the Eleventh Asian Security Conference

All-out wars are no longer the norm for settling disputes among states. Rapid globalisation has led to profound changes by creating interdependence amongst states and people making inter-state wars an...