Smart Maritime Power for India’s Integrated Military

The importance of maritime power as the determinant of global power needs no emphasis. India is a maritime nation with its futureinextricably linked to the sea. However, due to a continental-centric approach to national security, the maritime domain has not got itsdue attention. With the maritime orientation of the Indo-Pacific and the likely great power contestation in these waters, India’s maritime power will have a critical role to play in shaping the outcome on land. Technology will have a large role to play across the entire spectrum of conflict, both, in the maritime domain as well as on land; militaries will have to adapt these as effective force multipliers both in planning and prosecuting the conflict. The integration of the country’s maritime power in the country’s security matrix will be a prerequisite to shape the future contours of the region

Pakistan’s in a Mess, But It’s Survival Likely

The article carries out a recapitulation of key past events and a realistic assessment of the situation in Pakistan and its implications, especially in the region. The economy, internal stability and security, political leadership and foreign affairs, all seem to drive Pakistan towards an abyss. Will it fall into it or will it recover? Political elements in Pakistan will always play the politics which exploit the negatives of Indo-Pak relations to create opportunities for themselves. Only a stable government can give peace a chance, but in Pakistan, the only government which can be stable is the one which has the backing of the army. The current political crisis and its implications indicate a number of scenarios playing out which going by past precedent and the imperative of the army remaining the king makers are predicted by the author with precision

Utility of Military Force in Achieving India’s Strategic Objectives

Present-day conflicts present a dichotomy in the utility of military force in achieving strategic objectives. Since the end of the Cold War, decades of irregular wars over the globe suggested that conventional wars were passe. However, in the past two years, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have brought out that prolonged conventional wars are very much possible even under a nuclear overhang. This article carries out a brief analysis of India’s strategic objectives and the theoretical framework of war. It brings out the uncertainties like future wars, and how preparing for a perfect fit is impossible given the availability of resources. In this milieu using military force requires fresh but realistic thinking. When talking of Military Force for achieving strategic objectives all three Services come into play and have to be considered. This article in its first half looks at the overall Military Force and thereafter goes into the specific Army sphere. Here it gives some key recommendations to ensure as to how can India effectively manage and apply ground forces to meet the current and future conventional and asymmetric threats

Capacity Building for Military Diplomacy

India’s military diplomacy objectives of capacity building are geared toward enhancing capacities in military inventories as well as honing capacities in the training and deployment of India’s armed forces. In the pursuit of its military diplomacy, India has responded to the challenges posed by its two avowed adversaries (Pakistan and China) through interactive partnerships with its preferred strategic partners. The character of India’s military diplomacy is “human-centric”. It looks at the capacity of India’s armed forces for achieving the tasks set for them, particularly when deployed to maintain international peace and security under the United Nations. This article carries out an assessment of the current status in this sphere to ascertain the extent to which India’s core national interests are being assisted by military diplomacy

Pakistan’s Security Dynamics and Nuclear Weapons: Editors: Shalini Chawla and Rajiv Nayan

Pakistan’s nuclear thinking, doctrine, and posture are critical for Indian policymakers and the international security community. For Pakistan, nuclear arsenals are rationalised as an ultimate guarantee of security, a deterrent to Indian conventional military superiority, and an umbrella to pursue a proxy war through terrorism. The book, Pakistan’s Security Dynamics and Nuclear Weapons, co-edited by Dr. Shalini Chawla and Dr. Rajiv Nayan is an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of Pakistan’s intricate security dynamics from a large number of experts in a wide range of disciplines. The book is divided into three sections with a number of chapters in each section covering the overarching theme of the section

Adapting Quickly to Emerging Forms of Warfare in the Indian Context

The military-strategic community is awash with former practitioners, strategic thinkers, and policymakers whose job it is to look at future trends in warfare, influenced as they are by the seductive pull of the latest technological game-changer. In this cacophony of ideas and contestable claims, new means of waging war, for mostly the same old reasons, are discernible and can be grasped by strategic audiences who then look at the specific context in which some of these very ideas could fructify into doable strategic effort for a nation’s overall wellbeing. This paper has tried to view the Indian strategic context without delving into too many specific recommendations for change in our policies, other than to crystallise them, or new structures in the military organisation as it exists. Instead, it tries to view this context through a wide-angle lens, searching for the pros and cons of change in the Sub-continental strategic-military future, and how our top leadership and military commanders could be better prepared, mentally as well as in material capabilities, for a war of the future

The Salience of Air Power in Accelerating Land Operations Across Various Terrains

India’s persistent continental threat has ensured that employment of force through the medium of air has not only remained vital, but has become increasingly definitive in military strategy and outcomes. An analysis of the air power roles undertaken by the IAF towards the land campaigns in all the wars brings out one fact clearly. That is, along with the land operations of the Indian Army which have been fought in diverse geographical terrains, the IAF too has fought alongside in each of them, in a wide variety of roles. Each terrain type presents unique operational advantages and challenges for both land and air warfare, and also provides synergistic employment opportunities, tailored to the adversary-specific warfighting requirements. The IAF has immense capabilities critical in accelerating land operations in all terrains, provided it is synergised at every level from planning to execution

China Coup: The Great Leap to Freedom: Author: Roger Garside

University of California Press (2021), ISBN: 978-0520380974, 256 pp.,   &nbsp

The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder: Author: Sean McFate

In the book The New Rules of War the author Sean McFate a former paratrooper and contractor, who later became a professor, writes that in the changing world order, war remains a constant—but warfare is evolving incessantly. States that used to be the sole legitimate entities in warfighting tend to hire new actors to fight on their behalf based on ideologies or other interests. Similarly, defeating an enemy does not remain confined only to conquering territories and killing their troops but to influencing others quickly by using tools, mediums and cunning strategies. It seems modern war is one-step ahead of the traditional way of war-fighting, as it is ‘more than warfare and more to warfare than killing’

AI and the Potential to Create Digital Twins to Transform Military Logistics

Efficient and reliable military logistics are essential to the success of military operations. When effectively integrated into logistics planning and decision-making, Artificial Intelligence (AI) can simplify complex logistics operations. Digital twins are digital representations of physical objects, systems, or processes. When powered by AI, digital twins have the potential to make military logistics smarter, more efficient, and cost-effective. It is proposed that all military equipment (embedded with sensors) and military depots in the Indian Army should have their AI digital twins created to facilitate predictive maintenance and AI-driven demand forecasting respectively. An attempt has been made to explore and validate the proposed concepts through two prototype machine-learning projects. The article further delves into the implementation aspects of AI digital twin-based predictive maintenance anddemand forecasting followed by key recommendations for adoption in the Indian Army