Arms

If we have no qualms about importing from other countries why cannot we buy ammunition from our own private sector companies? While restrictions could apply to production of small arms and ammunition, for large calibre arms and ammunition there is a case for permitting the private sector companies to chip in.

• Amit Cowshish
• April 03, 2014
• IDSA Comments

Military planners believe that the ‘blast and fragmentation’ type conventional weapons cannot advance much further technologically.The next chapter in weapons technology development is expected to be realized from Directed Energy weapons (DEWs). It can be assumed that by 2035, DEWs consisting of laser, microwave and millimeter waves can reach current performance levels of the existing kinetic energy weapons(KEWs) and conventional weapons. While these will co-exist with KEWs,a non-DEW option would have a debilitating effect on the defence preparedness of any nation.

• Bishwajit Bose
• January 2014
• Journal of Defence Studies

Though public-private partnerships is encouraged, privately the government continues to retain its monopoly on research and development and defence production through the DRDO, the ordnance factories and the defence PSUs.

• Gurmeet Kanwal
• September 19, 2013
• Issue Brief

The United States dominates global defence markets, but the nature of this dominance is shifting. Strategic and budgetary considerations—the latter being constantly restructured by the rising relative cost of defence labour—drive US defence production towards international collaboration. In this essay, I examine the politics of a high-calibre international collaborative programme that has made headlines in recent years: the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). What motivated the US government to take on partners, and what influence, if any, have the partners had on the programme so far?

• Srdjan Vucetic
• September 2013
• Strategic Analysis

By abstaining from voting on the global arms trade treaty, India has exposed the treaty’s loopholes in not addressing concerns about illegal transfer of arms to terrorist organisations, insurgents groups and other non-state actors.

• Gurmeet Kanwal
• April 08, 2013
• IDSA Comments

The Rafale deal is especially important as it is IAF’s best bet to stem and even reverse the recent and continuous fall in the combat aircraft squadrons fielded.

• Vivek Kapur
• August 30, 2012
• IDSA Comments

If there is one dimension in the air attack–air defence continuum that is riding high on the wings of enabling edge technologies, it is the use of stealth, both in the offensive and defensive domains.

• V. K. Saxena
• July 2012
• Journal of Defence Studies

The primary role of Israel’s current fleet of ‘Dolphins’ is likely to be limited to serve as instruments of ‘signalling’ strategic intent to potential enemies rather than as effective pre-emptive strike or competent second-strike platforms.

• S. Samuel C. Rajiv
• June 15, 2012
• IDSA Comments

Among other intertwining issues, what continues to disturb the Indian establishment is the non-inclusion of non-state actors as likely recipients of illicit arms which, in the Indian experience, is crucial and on which the Chairman’s paper remains silent.

• Prashant Dikshit
• May 15, 2012
• IDSA Comments

Precision in aerial warfare, which initially lay in the individual skills of combatants, has shifted to machines through the incorporation of advanced technology.

• Vivek Kapur
• May 08, 2012
• Issue Brief