INDIAN ARMED FORCES CHIEFS ON OUR RELENTLESS AND FOCUSED PUBLISHING EFFORTS

Experts Speak

• Restore status to armed forces
  By Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey

  The politicobureaucratic leadership has so far succeeded in keeping the armed forces out of policy formulation and decision-making at the national level, quite ironically even in matters of national security.

• A relook at the Chief of Defence Staff / Permanent Chairman COSC
  By Lt General (Retd) V.K. Kapoor

  It will require political will to compel the services to be truly joint in their planning and conduct of future wars. This will demand some radical changes at the higher operational levels and the Chairman with the powers vested in him by the government could set the ball rolling.

• Brainless blabber
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Sharif had no business poking his nose into the ongoing Indian elections; a sphere he has absolutely no business to talk especially with his army and ISI having consigned his own country into the jaws...

• The precious chip
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Our engineering colleges need to give much more focus on practical rather than theoretical knowledge, without which our already late chip manufacturing will not get the required impetus, since we actually need to leapfrog capacity building in this sphere...

• The UCAV war
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  The Defence Research and Development Organisation is developing the medium altitude long endurance UAV as a forerunner to the high altitude long endurance UAV.

• Internal Security - The looming crisis
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Since last two years that China has been providing arms and communication equipment to to the Maoists through the Kachen rebels in Myanmar and onwards through the PLA of Manipur and that China was also organising joint PLA Manipur and Maoists training...

• Lessons from 1962
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  India failed to read Chinese intentions despite Chinese ousting nationalists from Manchuria in 1948, sweeping into Tibet in 1951, occupying Sinkiang and shelling Taiwan in 1954...

• Facilitation of Defence Offsets
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Perhaps there is need to provide higher multiplier values to extremely critical technologies required by DRDO in order to attract foreign vendors.

• Uighurs strike back
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Chinese analysts say the most potent threat to China is that of Islamic fundamentalism that defies all borders and is already emanating in the heart of China spearheaded by the ETIM.

• Tragedy of INS Sindhuratna and beyond
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  The existing shortages of Rs. 1,41,000-crore worth of arms and ammunition in the Army includes critical voids in bulletproof jackets and patkas, lack of which means avoidable loss and injury to soldiers.

• Evading the laser
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Laser warning system would eventually need to be fitted onto our armoured vehicles too in view of emerging threats from laser weapons albeit most of them are already fitted with smoke dispensing mechanism

• Acquiring US defence technology Myth and reality
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  US technology and exports control areas were being looked at so that India has the same status as the closest allies of US, for the US system to operate on a timescale consistent with the needs for the Indian side to make decisions

• Defence budget (2014-15) What it implies
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  No country can be militarily strong when 77 per cent defence requirements are met through imports. It is obvious that a priority of the new government would be to review the country’s budget...

• Pakistani Army sincerity the big question
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Pakistan had already violated the year 2003 ceasefire hundreds of times, mostly to assist infiltration and cross-border raids. During the calendar year 2013 alone, Pakistan had violated the ceasefire more than 250 times.

• Joint commands with Chinese characters
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  For those who feel that HQ IDS is providing necessary jointness, anyone who has served in HQ IDS will vouch that the organisation is sans powers to enforce jointness in the Services...

• Cometh zombie war
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  There was plenty of commotion when UK’s Mail Online quoting Anatoly Serdyukov, Russian Defence Minister, revealed that Russian arms procurement programme 2011-2020 would encompass introduction of super weaponry including weapon development based...

• Military camouflage towards invisibility
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Though multiple options are available in military camouflage, costs and other considerations like time and effort needed for implementation are factors that dictate the degree of camouflage that a military may adopt. No single camouflage pattern is effective in all types of terrain.

• Strengthen Indo-Japanese bond
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Present India-Japan bilateral relationship needs to be carried much beyond as the two countries work for global partnership with converging strategic interests

• Afghanistan calling
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  What Afghanistan needs from the world is continued financial support for converting the ANSF to a regular force, till the time Afghanistan’s own economy can come up to sustain these forces indigenously. That would be a significant contribution for the security and stability of the region.

• Permanent Chairman of COSC needed
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  The permanent Chairman of COSC can certainly not provide the required synergy in the Services, which in turn adversely affects national synergy without which we cannot adequately cope with threats to our security in any segment of the conflict spectrum

• Laser goes intense
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  India has identified development of ASAT weapons for electronic or physical destruction of satellites in both low earth orbit and the higher geosynchronous orbit in the longterm integrated perspective plan (2012–27)

• Technology boosts terror
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  The 3D weapons will likely be commercialised fastest in India. What we need to understand is that India has to fight terror by itself.

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  Pakistan upping ante
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  It is a matter of time before China suffers more terror attacks in its heartland, something that will make Beijing review her relations with Islamabad. So, Pakistan has decided to up the ante against both India and Afghanistan – in a bid to divert attention.

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  Time to leapfrog technology
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  What India needs to learn from China is optimising technology reconfiguration wherein available technology is integrated in multitude of combinations to attain selfreliance

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  Pakistan duplicity reinforced
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  The security of military establishments and garrisons must be beefed up with the army going proactive. We must develop a coherent deterrent against unconventional threats, mere diplomacy having failed miserably and threats having magnified.

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  Prime Minister's visit gave mixed results
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  It is no secret that US has been seeking Pakistan’s assistance to open dialogue with the Taliban for a political solution in Afghanistan which is utopian but Pakistani diplomacy has kept the US dream alive in this context

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  Hacker help in cyber chinks
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  But while the focus remains on big-ticket issues, we fail to appreciate how vulnerable all our industries are and the cumulative shock that our economy can receive if these are attacked to regress our industrial growth.

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  GSAT-7 Another milestone
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Though many foreign satellites on L Band have footprints over India, use of a foreign satellite for operational military communications raises legitimate apprehensions of security

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  Great Game Syria
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Hopefully better sense will prevail but the US cruise missile strikes may still take place, which will have adverse economic consequences for India besides affecting Indian Diaspora in the region

• More punch for the Indian Navy
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  India definitely requires two to three aircraft carries operational at all times but it should also have a larger number of submarines considering that Chinese submarines are already lurking in the Indian Ocean

• India's cruise missile
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  It was quite apparent that to meet the operational need of a medium range cruise missile, India will have to go the indigenous route, especially when the core technology of the BrahMos has not fully been shared by Russia, which is the norm with developed nations

• Dealing with rogue Pakistan
  By Lt. General PC Katoch (Retd)

  Indian Army must review its counterinfiltration operating procedure on the LoC. In all likelihood commanders on ground are constrained by an overwhelming urge to look for signal from the brass before taking any tough step.

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  Basic trainer aircraft: The facts
  By Air Marshal (Retd) Anil Chopra

  The debate on whether the basic trainer aircraft (BTA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) should be indigenously developed or procured from abroad, hit a new high after a report in the media alleging...