Learning by Doing: The PLA Trains at Home and Abroad by Roy Kamphausen, David Lai and Travis Tanner Learning by Doing: The PLA Trains at Home and Abroad analyses the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) training exercises and its joint international drills after the year 2000. Drawing on assorted media reports and other sources, the book has created a much-needed structured narrative on the subject. Media coverage, such as that by PLA Daily (China Military Online), has drawn attention to technological developments in PLA’s training exercises, their expanded time, and geographical span over the past decade. The PLA’s joint international drills have also been widely covered. Prashant Kumar Singh July 2013 Journal of Defence Studies
NSG Plenary Meeting: Nothing Inspiring The Prague plenary seemingly skirted the ongoing China-Pakistan nuclear collaboration, now a well known chronic weakness of the NSG. Even the public statement did not mention a single line about this collaboration. Rajiv Nayan July 11, 2013 IDSA Comments
Ouster of President Morsi and its Implications The Islamic Brotherhood, vastly experienced in handling stress situations, is not going to take the ouster of its nominee and the democratically elected President with any sense of resignation. R. S. Kalha July 09, 2013 IDSA Comments
The Increasing Complexity of the Internationalised Syrian Conflict Into its third year, the Syrian conflict has been fuelled by a multiplicity of interest groups and countries, overshadowing the initial cause of the protests. Gains for either side in Syria have come to mean corresponding losses for different regional and international stakeholders. Melissa M. Cyrill July 08, 2013 Issue Brief
Evolution of Aerial Combat Trends towards direct energy weapons (DEW), though yet to be fully mature and battle proven, indicate a major shift in the conduct of aerial combat in the coming decades. Vivek Kapur July 08, 2013 Issue Brief
India Enters New Era of Space Navigation One of the biggest advantages of the navigational satellite, once the system gets fully operational, is to reduce the dependency on the GPS. This would make India largely self-sufficient in the navigational field. Ajey Lele July 08, 2013 IDSA Comments
Reinventing Defence Procurement in India: Lessons from Other Countries and An Integrative Framework Over the past decade, defence capital acquisition reforms have enhanced standardization, transparency and bigger acquisition budgets. Yet the system grapples with delays, cost escalations and gaps in operational preparedness. This article explores the structure, process and cultural dimensions of the acquisition system, unpacking the underlying linkages between policy, planning, budgeting, strategic direction, and outcomefocused analytical decision-making—factors that influence effectiveness of the procurement system. Vandana Kumar July 2013 Journal of Defence Studies
The Maoist Threat As a nation, we have a tendency to react once a crisis overtakes us. This holds good in the case of natural disasters like the annual floods in the North-East, earthquakes, the tsunami, the most recent calamity in Uttarkhand or national security threats like Kargil, 26/11 in Mumbai, and the Chinese intrusion in Eastern Ladakh in April 2013. To this list can be added the chimera of Maoism or Left-wing Extremism (LWE). Deepak Kapoor July 2013 Journal of Defence Studies
Role of the Indian Military in Disasters It needs to be noted that discipline and efficiency is the first demand in disaster response and relief tasks, which are often dangerous missions and quite naturally the military brings in order in post-disaster operations. P. K. Gautam July 05, 2013 IDSA Comments
Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap 2013 The objective of the TPCR is to give an opportunity to the Indian industry to draw up business plans for developing technologies which could be transformed into capabilities required by the armed forces. Amit Cowshish July 02, 2013 IDSA Comments