Indian Defence Review Vol 30 1 Jan Mar 2015

The biennial Aero India Show is here again in Bengaluru. The current issue is focused on Air Power. With Prime Minister raising the upper limit of FDI in the Defence Industry sector and bringing forth a policy of “Make in India” the international weapon systems and equipment manufacturers are realigning their format to meet the requirement in these changed circumstances. The major players in the aviation industry are already on the starting blocks and fine tuning their nuanced approach. Dr Nikolai Novichkov has presented a view of the Russian aviation industry; Steven Gillard has outlined Rolls Royce’s committed support in positioning India as a global manufacturing hub. Boeing has elaborated on the maintenance support and services being set up for the two major aircraft deployed by the IAF – C17 and P8I as also making India as a hub for support and services in the region. Rafael Industries and IAI Israel too have outlined the format for possible TOT in an impressive array of technologies in the future. A fair number of our articles are devoted to analysing India’s Air Power. Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja has comprehensively dwelt on India’s present and future combat fleet. Drones as game changers are presented lucidly by S Gopal. Space is considered an adjunct to air power; Gp Capt AK Sachdev has analysed this aspect in relation to India’s space endeavours. IAF phased out its fleet of Canberra medium bombers in 1990. Was that a well considered decision taking into account India’s future growth as a regional and global power? The role of bombers in the air force is pithily argued by Sqn Ldr Vijainder Thakur. As aircraft exploit the air medium, air defence weapons aim to deny this freedom to aircraft and missiles. Air Marshal Anil Chopra brings forth the success of the ‘Iron Dome’ deployed by the Israelis and its role in protecting surface targets. This issue also covers India’s ‘sub-conventional deficit’ by our special correspondent and the present state of insurgency in India’s North East region by Brig R Borthakur. Gen Vijay Oberoi has highlighted the need for a structural change in India’s higher defence management. Brig Deepak Sinha has raised the issue of India’s security strategy and doctrine being on divergent paths. Maj Gen AK Chadha has emphatically put forth the need for the military in the digitalised battle field to carve out its own ‘slice of space’ for operating successfully in such a future war scenario. Air Marshal Anil Chopra and Dr SN Misra have presented the efficacy of TOT and off sets and challenges before the defence industry. Mr Kanwal Sibal has critically assessed the evolving dynamics of Indo-US relations. Gen JS Lidder with his UN experience has looked at the need for enhancing the role of women in conflict zones. Claude Arpi has been a keen China watcher. He presents the current situation in the PLA consequent to the crackdown by the Chinese President Xi Jinping on the wide spread corruption in the Chinese PLA. The IDR has endeavoured through the range of articles to hold the interest of the serious reader of military affairs.

India is growing into one of Asia’s most important military powers. Its defence budget has more than doubled in the past decade, and it imports more arms than anyone else in the world. But India is still seen as a land power focused on long, disputed and militarised borders with Pakistan and China rather than the global military force it was in the first half of the twentieth century under British rule. Is this changing? India is acquiring increasing numbers of key platforms – aircraft carriers, amphibious ships, refuelling tankers and transport aircraft – that are extending its reach to the Indian Ocean littoral and beyond. But most accounts of this build-up have been impressionistic and partial. Indian Power Projection assesses the strength, reach and purposes of India's maturing capabilities. It offers a systematic assessment of India’s ability to conduct long-range airstrikes from land and sea, transport and convey airborne and amphibious forces, and develop the institutional and material enablers that turn platforms into capabilities. It draws extensively on the lessons of modern expeditionary operations, and considers how India’s growing interests might shape where and how it uses these evolving capabilities in the future. This study finds that Indian power projection is in a nascent stage: limited in number, primarily of use against much-weaker adversaries, and deficient in some key supporting capabilities. India’s defence posture will continue to be shaped by local threats, rather than distant interests. Indian leaders remain uncomfortable with talk of military intervention and expeditionary warfare, associating these with colonial and superpower excess. But as the country’s power, interests and capabilities all grow, it is likely that India will once more find itself using military force beyond its land borders.

Two issues that dominated the debates of the strategic community in the first quarter of this year were; ‘Make in India’ energetically marketed at the Aero-India Show and the Defence Budget. The Defence Budget is looked at intently to get the general emphasis of the government on security. Brig Gurmeet Kanwal has debated this lucidly. Maintaining a large standing armed force requires more than mere day-to-day support. An ill-equipped large force mired with equipment hollowness is not a guarantee for security but in a future war will be cannon fodder for the adversary. Someone will have to be held accountable to the nation for this debilitating lapse. Or take a conscious decision to reduce its size if this country cannot afford a well equipped large armed force!!! Preparing an armed force on a long-term basis requires a deeply considered perspective of its future role in the national security scheme and the road map for its implementation. The absence of a doctrine and the hesitation of establishing a single point of contact on all matters military have been well debated in this issue. Generals Harwant and Banerjee and Colonel Achutan look at the aspects of doctrine. ‘Make in India’ has been the didactic theme of this Government. It needs to be spelt out in clear terms and not left to the (mis-)interpretation of the bureaucracy. Make in India will be feasible only when the basic industrial manufacturing has notched up a number of counts and the manpower skills to go with it are matching. Currently it is more theoretical than implementable. The articles Dr Misra, Air Marshal Kukreja and Group Captain Noronha address these issues with particular reference to the aero-space industry. Two articles relate to the major current event on PM Modi’s visit to China; the first is on Tibet and the second on the boundary issue. Cyber space is emerging the next frontier; Gen Davinder Kumar has generated an excellent discussion on the issue. Col Harjeet has looked at the implications of social media on security. As a first Claude Arpi has documented a diary highlighting prominent issues relating to China’s PLA in this first quarter. This will now be a regular feature in the print edition. Wishing all our readers a worthwhile professionally invigorating reading experience.

IN THIS VOLUME: Indo-Pak War 1965: Are Commemorations Due? – Lt Gen JS Bajwa (Editor) ---------------------------------------------------- INDIAN DEFENCE REVIEW COMMENT Indian Army’s Multi-Calibre Individual Weapon System – Danvir Singh ---------------------------------------------------- Getting More from Less: Force Multipliers for the IAF – Gp Capt Joseph Noronha Quietly Effective, Vigilant Airborne ISR – John Kiehle Look Beyond FDI: Laying the Right Foundation for Defence Manufacturing – Dr JP Dash Making “Make in India” Succeed – Lt Gen Anjan Mukherjee Restructuring Defence Procurement Procedure – Ashish Puntambekar Airborne and Special Forces: Reassessing Role, Tasks and Organisations – Brig Deepak Sinha The IAF and its Need for Close Air Support – Sqn Ldr Vijainder K Thakur India: An Aerospace Power? – Gp Capt TP Srivastava Computer Network Operations and Electronic Warfare Complementary or Competitive? – Lt Gen Davinder Kumar Spectre of China’s Artificial Islands – Prof Swaran Singh & Dr Lilian Yamamoto China’s Game of Territorial Claims – Lt Gen Gautam Banerjee Aerospace and Defence News – Priya Tyagi The Dragon’s Adventures in the Indian Ocean – Vice Admiral Anup Singh Influence of Aerial Combat on the Development of Armoured Fighting Vehicles – Artsrun Hovhannisyan Fifty Years Since Haji Pir – Special Correspondent The Middle East: An Assessment – Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja Climate Change in the Himalayas: A Ticking Time-Bomb? – Col CP Muthanna Restructuring Defence Reforms for National Security – Brig Gurmeet Kanwal Wanted A Full Spectrum Military Doctrine – Brig Amar Cheema Reviewing India’s Foreign Policy: From Regional Power to Potential Super Power – Anant Mishra The PLA Digest – Claude Arpi Book Review

In this volume: Unprepared and unwilling Peace with Pakistan: an idea whose time has passed Admiral Nirmal Verma, Chief of the Naval Staff Future Trends in Aviation Indian Shipbuilding: key to maritime and economic security Army's Capability Accretion Women in the Armed Forces: misconceptions and facts Facing the Dragon: is India prepared? International Security Challenges and Emerging Flashpoints The Way to Regional Power Status Evolution of the Indian Submarine Arm Aerospace and Defense News Rheinmetall PTC Lockheed Martin EADS Eurofighter Controp Harris Demystifying the New 'Buy and Make (Indian)' Procedure Defense Offsets: proving detrimental to the services Pitfalls in Arms Procurement Process Design Review of Naval Platforms Offset Contracts: under defense procurement procedures in India India 2025: a global defense exports hub? India-Iran Defense Cooperation China 2010 China: friend or foe India and Its Neighbors Kargil: an IAF perspective U.S. Military Surge in Afganistan Combating 'Red Terror' Maoist Threat and Politics Asian Security Environment: India's options India and the U.S.: haunting past and beckoning future Is India Preparing to Lose?

The first book by a former Indian naval intelligence officer on Sino-India relations, India’s Maritime Strategy provides a unique insight into the Indian Navy, tracing its post-independence growth and discussing its transformation and future in the 21st century. In the context of the rise of China’s maritime power in the Indian Ocean, this book provides a nuanced view of the extent and scope of India’s maritime reach and the effect of this on Sino-Indian competition. Challenging the view that by developing a favourable environment alone, India could seek to maintain its balance of power with China, it is argued that despite durable bilateral security ties with most regional states, India’s maritime aspirations to be the primary net security provider for the region are unsustainable in the long term. This book presents a comprehensive coverage of India’s bilateral maritime security engagements with all the Indian Ocean regional states, as well as the US, France, UK and Russia. As such, it will be useful to students and scholars of Indian and South Asian politics, international relations and maritime security.

The Mumbai blasts of 1993, the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001, Mumbai 26/11—cross-border terrorism has continued unabated. What can India do to motivate Pakistan to do more to prevent such attacks? In the nuclear times that we live in, where a military counter-attack could escalate to destruction beyond imagination, overt warfare is clearly not an option. But since outright peace-making seems similarly infeasible, what combination of coercive pressure and bargaining could lead to peace? The authors provide, for the first time, a comprehensive assessment of the violent and non-violent options available to India for compelling Pakistan to take concrete steps towards curbing terrorism originating in its homeland. They draw on extensive interviews with senior Indian and Pakistani officials, in service and retired, to explore the challenges involved in compellence and to show how non-violent coercion combined with clarity on the economic, social and reputational costs of terrorism can better motivate Pakistan to pacify groups involved in cross-border terrorism. Not War, Not Peace? goes beyond the much discussed theories of nuclear deterrence and counterterrorism strategy to explore a new approach to resolving old conflicts.

The revival of major world power rivalry is a striking feature of the current international affairs. In the year gone by, Europe, supported by the US, vied with Russia for influence in Ukraine–a race that led to the annexation of Crimea by Russia and a pro-Russian insurgency in that region. In Asia, while the US is gradually drawing down in Afghanistan, it is also seeking to counter the growing influence of China. The sole Super Power is garnering support from China’s neighbours, India included, to balance the resurgent Dragon. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of ISIS has disturbed the world peace. The progress made in the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme is likely to affect calculations and equations all over the world. No region is impervious to the happenings in another part of the world. Competition (read rivalries) and geopolitical shifts pose myriad challenges to the peace-loving nations of the world–quite often, they are faced with the difficulty of evading armed conflicts. It requires conscious and sustained effort to do so. In order to work towards such goals, it is necessary to look at geopolitical, security and military-related issues objectively. The Centre for Air Power Studies has been publishing the Asian Defence Review to fulfill this need. This volume, a resource base for both the professional and the general readers, is the eighth in the series under this title. It aims to add to the pool of information and knowledge in the current strategic discourse dealing with military strategy, defence, politics and trends in military capabilities that impact Asia. In particular, it covers some of the important issues related to Air Power, Tactical Nuclear Weapons, Cyber Security, Network-Centric Warfare, Environmental Degradation, Iran, Pakistan and China.