Publication Filter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The book is based on the premise that ‘fundamentalism’ that gives an impression of antiquity is a modern phenomenon and ‘relatively a recent thing’ (p. 17). It explains fundamentalism as a powerful reaction against modernity that has brought unprecedented linear transformations in the economic, political, scientific and educational spheres undermining the influence of tradition and religion over the past couple of centuries. Fundamentalism is an endeavour to reverse the ‘negative side’ of modernity

• Saurabh Mishra |
• July 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis

The article seeks to assess the evolution of the Tibet question against the backdrop of the problems associated with the succession of the Dalai Lama. It also discusses the implications of all this for India and provides policy recommendations the Indian authorities could use to deal with this situation.

• Adrien Frossard |
• July 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis

V.Prabhakaran, the man who took up arms at the age of 17 and led one of the world's most ruthless terrorist organisations to realise the dream of the Tamil Eelam, died in the final battle with the Sri Lankan forces in May 2009, leaving behind Tamils who are a disillusioned and demoralised ‘nation’. The end of the war established the writ of the Sri Lankan state and re-established Sinhala hegemony. S. Murari, in his book The Prabhakaran Saga: The Rise and Fall of an Eelam Warrior, depicts the Prabhakaran era in the history of Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict in an objective manner.

• Gulbin Sultana |
• July 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis