Ajey Lele

Group Captain (Dr) Ajey Lele (Retd.) is the Deputy Director General, MP-IDSA. Earlier, he was a Senior Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and headed its Centre on Strategic Technologies. He started his professional career as an officer in the Indian Air Force in 1987 and took early retirement from the service to pursue his academic interests. He has a Masters degree in Physics from Pune University, and Masters and MPhil degrees in Defence and Strategic Studies from Madras University. He has done his doctorate from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. His specific areas of research include issues related to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), Space Security and Strategic Technologies. He has contributed articles to various national and international journals, websites and newspapers. He has authored ten books and has also been an editor for seven books. He is a recipient of the K. Subrahmanyam Award (2013) which is conferred for outstanding contribution in the area of strategic and security studies.


Deputy Director General

Publication

Leapfrogging into the Future

Consultant Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt Ajey Lele’s article ‘Leapfrogging into the Future’ has been published in Raksha Anirveda on 17 April 2023.

ISRO needs to quickly demonstrate to the global customers that the SSLV is fully capable of carrying a payload of 500 kg and putting it safely at an altitude of 500km. The organisation is also required to ensure the operaltionalisation of the proposed second spaceport at Kulasekharapatnam in Tamil Nadu, besides launching heavy satellites into geostationary orbits. This would also help them to establish capability to carry more than 10,000 kgs to LEO, says Gp Capt Lele.

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Indian ASAT: Mission Shakti should be a comma, not a full stop

Consultant, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt Ajey Lele’s article ‘Indian ASAT: Mission Shakti should be a comma, not a full stop’ has been published in ‘The Space Review’ on 27 March 2023.

It could be said that India’s political objectives, both signaling to adversaries and increasing its relevance on the global stage in the space domain, were achieved with Mission Shakti, says Gp Capt Lele.

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ISRO Successfully Deorbits Satellite And Walks the Talk on Space Debris

Consultant, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt Ajey Lele’s article ‘ISRO Successfully Deorbits Satellite And Walks the Talk on Space Debris’ has been published in Interstellar on 25 March 2023.

The time has come for India to take the lead in undertaking policy initiatives in the space domain towards establishing a global rule-based mechanism. The deorbiting of Megha-Tropiques 1 is a laudable step in that direction, says Gp Capt Lele.

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Ukraine theatre, is Russia’s hypersonic ploy working?

Consultant, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt Ajey Lele’s article ‘Ukraine theatre, is Russia’s hypersonic ploy working?’ has been published in Financial Express on 10 March 2023.

If the purpose is to give a signal to the west, then it has already been achieved a year back. Though Russia needs to realise that now-a-days such singling hardly matters to the west, North Korea is a great example. With the use of such weapons, can Russia start a new arms race? The answer is: it has already started, says Gp Capt Lele.

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Military Applications of Artificial Intelligence

Consultant, MP-IDSA, Gp Capt Ajey Lele’s article ‘Military Applications of Artificial Intelligence’ has been published in the March 2023 edition of Defence & Security Alert.

AI-based weapon systems have great advantages. AI has already brought a major disruption into the existing military technology domain. There is a possibility of the AI emerging as a ‘new nuclear power’ revamping the existing global order, says Gp Capt Lele.

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China’s Space Dream is getting Bigger

Consultant, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt Ajey Lele’s article ‘China’s Space Dream is getting Bigger’ has been published in Udai India on 10 February 2023.

China’s space programme has leapfrogged. They have multipronged space agenda from social, economic, scientific to strategic sectors. It is important for states like India to continuously keep a track of China’s fore into the space domain and design its own space policies accordingly, says Gp Capt Lele.

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China’s Balloon Making the Sino-US Relations Hotter

Consultant, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Gp Capt Ajey Lele’s article ‘China’s balloon making the Sino-US relations hotter’ has been published in Financial Express on 06 February 2023.

It would take some time for the truth to come out (provided that the US decides to share with the rest of the world), however it appears that the (unguided) travelling of one (weather) balloon has ended up bringing in lot of bad weather in the Sino-US relationship, says Gp Capt Lele.

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US Air Force F-22 Shoots Down Chinese Spy Balloon Off South Carolina Coast

Consultant, MP-IDSA, Gp Capt Ajey Lele’s article ‘US Air Force F-22 Shoots Down Chinese Spy Balloon Off South Carolina Coast’ has been published in Taaza Khabar News on 05 February 2023.

The US military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the East Coast in the United States (US) floating at an altitude of about 60,000 feet. Though the balloon did not pose any military or physical threat, its intrusion into American airspace over several days is being viewed as an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty, says Gp Capt Lele.

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S&T and Space Budgets….no major push

Consultant MP-IDSA, Gp Capt Ajey Lele’s article ‘S&T and Space Budgets….no major push’ has been published in Financial Express on 02 February 2023.

The article takes a broad overview in respect of the ‘demands on grants’ given in the budget for two ministries: one, the Ministry of Science and Technology (S & T) and two, the Department of Space.

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