National Security and Strategic Studies
Defence
Book Discussion: “Securing India, the Modi Way”, authored by Nitin Gokhale, 24 Nov 2017

The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organised a round table discussion on 24 Nov 2017, to discuss the book, ‘Securing India, the Modi Way’, authored by Nitin Gokhale, senior journalist and a member of the VIF’s faculty. The book bares out essential underpinnings of Prime Minister Modi’s approach to India’s national security and foreign policy issues, and is based on author’s personal interactions with key stakeholders, and file notings which remain unclassified as of today.

Professional Military Education - An Indian Experience

Introduction “The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.” - Thucydides Professional Military Education (PME) has always been a critical component of developing military leaders. It is based on two key principles: train for certainty, so that military personnel gain and master the skills needed for known tasks and educate for uncertainty, so that they have the broad base of knowledge and critical thinking skills needed to handle unanticipated and unpredictable situations.

Weapons and Missiles in the Indian Environment

Firepower in the current era is characterised by multiple combat platforms– guns, howitzers, multi-rockets and missiles - managed through the means of surveillance, target acquisition, engagement, destruction, and finally, damage assessment. For such complex orchestration of firepower to bear fruition, it is necessary to imbibe the right combinations of tactical, technical, logistic and financial factors which have to be derived from fundamental professional acumen rooted at the origins of firepower, the courses of its development and finally, the contemporary parameters of its application.

India’s National Defence; Gautam Banerjee, Pentagon Press, New Delhi, 2017, pp 278, INR 995

The book India’s National Defence defines India’s Defence Reforms and Military Modernisation which it must undertake to meet the strategic challenges of the 21st Century. The book lucidly brings out India’s inability to optimise its military success in its three wars against Pakistan of 1948, 1965 and 1971 as well as the current sub-conventional conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East.

DPP 2016: An enabler, not a show-stopper

DPP or no DPP the onus of success or failure lies in the hands of those who operate the DPP. Like they say, the law is only as good as the enforcer of the law. DPP 2016 or DPP 2056, it will be only as good as the persons who operate it, who interpret its content and apply the same to procurements at hand.​ Click here to read full paper

RTD on ‘Making Defence Acquisitions Work’

With India’s estimated defence expenditure on capital acquisitions likely to cross over $150 billion over the next decade, the imperative to streamline India’s defence acquisition processes and making it more flexible, transparent and fast-track has been growing by the day. The release of the NDA government’s first Defence Procurement Procedure, albiet in a semi-finished state, on the opening day of DefenceExpo in Goa on 28 March 2016, was apparently aimed at sending out the right signal to the industry.

Anti Satellite Weapons: A Likely Future Trajectory

The concept of ASAT weapons has evolved over time as a logical progression from the mother concept of Anti Ballistic Missiles (ABM) or its more recent coinage,the Ballistic Missile defence (BMD)-- a Missile-based defence against the adversary's threat of Ballistic Missiles. Click here to read full paper

Strategies for Enhancing India’s Comprehesive National Power

Comprehensive National Power – Concept and Utility National power is defined as the ability of a nation to attain its strategic objectives by directed action. The use of power would be based on the overall national vision based on the aspirations of the people at large and the capability of the leadership to fulfill the same. Click here to read full Paper

Seminar on Make in India & DPP 2013

On May 27, 2015, the VIF put together a panel of eminent policy experts on defence, comprising, among others, serving and retired high ranking military officers, senior bureaucrats and representatives from the defence manufacturing industry for a seminar on ‘Make in India’ and DPP 2013.

Seminar on ‘Design and Make in India in Electronics’

With a view to evolve the future roadmap towards building comprehensive national capabilities in design and manufacturing in the Electronic Sector, the VIF, in collaboration with the DRDO, CII and the American Chamber of Commerce in India (AmCham India), organised an important seminar ‘Design and Make in India - Electronics Sector’ on 3 & 4 Jun 2015.

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