Modernization of the Chinese PLA


Book Description

FROM MASSED MILITIA TO FORCE PROJECTION encapsulates the evolution of the PLA from its inception, through the tumultuous period of the Cultural Revolution on to the Four Modernisation era of China's overall transformation. The changing political scenario and impact of globalization had a significant influence in the revision of the PLA doctrine. This has been covered leading to study of the War Zone Campaign concept and its impact on technology development and equipment profile of the PLA. China's Revolution in Military Affairs is of particular significance as the PLA transforms its manpower to fight a future war in a high-tech environment with its military forces dynamically networked. The book also looks at how China has shifted emphasis from military operations to non-military operations as a pre-emptive option, employing cyber warfare, computer network operations and information warfare with a high degree of deniability built around it. The book also covers in fair detail the modernisation of the armed forces of China. The focus is on the augmentation of the equipment profile of the Navy, Air Force and Second Artillery Corps. These are the forces that China is planning to deploy in a contingency of "force extension" in the near term and "force projection" at a later stage. Nuclear weapons have been an essential backdrop in the strategic domain of Chinese progression to a credible power status. This too, has been substantively covered. China has always denied that its growth is a threat to any nation. However, the neighbours have envisioned the existence of a plausible 'China Threat'. This has been comprehensively discussed in the book too. In the final analysis, the book hypothesises the employment of the PLA in two likely scenarios in a regional 'limited war' contingency. The author opines that the global economic environment and the technological advances in the military field warrants a dynamic approach to evolving a threat analysis. Rigid mathematical models and mind-sets will result in serious reverses.







CHINA: Threat or Challenge?


Book Description

ndian Defence Review (IDR) had earlier, in 2011, published a Book titled “Threat from China” edited by Late Bharat Verma. Team IDR felt that since May 2014 when the National Democratic Alliance government took over the reins of governance in India bringing in a more focussed, dynamic and assertive approach in conduct of its foreign relations, it was necessary to review the security paradigm between India and China. Moreover, around the same time there had been a tactile parallel change in leadership at the helm in China too. During the preliminary discussions there were strong views from a certain section of the community of academic scholars and diplomats that China was not an existential THREAT. However, the military community felt that the People’s Liberation Army’s substantive military modernisation manifested such a THREAT. The academic and diplomatic community did feel that there was surely a CHALLENGE in dealing with an assertive rising China – more relevant with a decline of US interest in Asia. To accommodate both views the Title was thus revised to “China – Threat or Challenge?” The Book is a compilation of articles written and published in the IDR since May 2014. Some articles are by Authors who were requested to express their contrary views on the subject so as to present to the Readers broad based views of various Authors across the spectrum on issues impacting India-China bilateral relations. The final verdict, of course, lies entirely with the discerning Readers.




Asia 2030


Book Description




Terror Funds in India


Book Description




Indian Defence Review Vol 31.1 (Jan-Mar 2016)


Book Description

IN THIS VOLUME: Military Modernisation in the Absence of a National Security Doctrine - Lt Gen JS Bajwa Rafale Deal - Untying the Knots - Air Marshal Anil Chopra Modernisation of Army Air Defence - Maj Gen AK Mehra Visualised Indian Artillery Considering Threats from China and Pakistan - Maj Gen PK Chakravorty Aviation: The Future is Unmanned - Air Marshal Anil Chopra Revamping the IAF’s Trainer Fleet - Gp Capt B Menon The Eagle, The Dragon, The Elephant and The Bear - Col Anil Athale Restructuring the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) - Col NP Singh Bull in the China Shop: The Indian Army vs The PLA - Brig Deepak Sinha China’s Reclamation of Islands in the South China Sea: Implications for India - Maj Gen PK Chakravorty Militarization of South China Sea: Offence-Defense Paradigm - S Rajasimman India’s Nuclear Submarine Programme - Rear Adm AP Revi India’s Air Defence: Is it Capable? - Maj Gen AK Mehra Make in India in Defence Production: Challenges & Opportunities - DC Srivastava KAMOV: The Make in India Defence Deal - Dr SN Misra What S-400 will bring to the Indian Ground-Based: Air Defence Capability? - Lt Gen VK Saxena Make in India: Problems and Prospects for the Aerospace Industry - Gp Capt AK Sachdev Aerospace and Defence News - Priya Tyagi Nurturing Military Institutions: For the Good of the Nation - Lt Gen Gautam Banerjee Ending the World’s Worst Atrocities: Darfur - Anant Mishra Myanmar Elections and Impact on the Region - Danvir Singh Spectre of ISIS’ Cyber Jihad Pandemic - Maj Gen AK Chadha




Nagaland The Night of the Guerrillas


Book Description

This is the explosive story of the underground movement in Nagaland never written before. It is an investigative report of the secret trails where the dew never dries, a trail which ended far beyond the Indian borders, snaking into the monsoon-soaked jungles of Kachin, where men like Zewtu fought and died unsung. These were the forests of no return where men like Kaito, Zhukiye. Mowu, Zuheto and Thinoselie embraced death often and survived. You are about to enter ‘terra incognita’ on the fog-bound heights of the Arakans where many a platoon commander fell, their mission reports unwritten. It is the only book to offer interpretations on: Meikhel: Three of the hallowed stones, of which two fell, according to a Naga prophecy. Oking: Top-secret mobile Headquarters of the Guerrillas. Ahza: A decree which emanated from Oking and could bring death of traitors. Peking: The Chinese connection which made an effort to convert Nagaland into a mini-Vietnam. Kuknalim: “Long live the land” was how the Guerrillas greeted each other, while they talked with bullets. Tatar Hoho: The underground Parliament where democracy prevailed. Alee Command: The Foreign Legion - will it strike again? Kachin: Where the south-east Asian guerrilla movements converge to co-ordinte. In The Night of the Guerrillas, there are no villains - the contending sides were caught between the indomitable and the inevitable. The destiny of the Nagas must have always lain with India while the luckless revolutionaries were searching it elsewhere.




The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre


Book Description

Nearly eighty years on and fifty years after India became independent, the Jallianwalal Bagh massacre is still surrounded by controversy. It is an even which many claim as a major turning point in the history of British rule of India. The massacre was a horrific illustration of the Raj at its worst, leading many Indian politicians to the conclusion that independence was the only way forward. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, 1919 is an objective study of the events surrounding the massacre and its aftermath. It looks at how the massacre has been depicted by both Indian and British historian, and by writers of other nationalities. It reveal how the event has been used in arguments for and against the British colonisation of India, and colonialism in general. This study provides a unique objective insight into the massacre and the way it has been portrayed in history. The objective approach shown by the writer may be a reflection of her British Asian background. Savita Narain has lived in Britain all her life, but her family in India had a strong involvement with the independence movement. Her great-uncle, Sir Shiv Prasad, was made President of Ballia region, Uttar Pradesh, when it declared swaraj sarkar (people’s government) from the British on 20 August when the British regained control.




Foreign Policies of India’s Prime Ministers


Book Description

The book is on the Prime Ministers of India since Jawaharlal Nehru. A chapter is devoted to each of them with a focus on their foreign policies. The broad organisational framework, designed and deployed in this publication, begins with a brief analysis of their formative years, their perceptions of the international system, and the architecture of their foreign policies, before delving into their decisional process, and before concluding with an evaluation of their role. All the Prime Ministers were obviously not interested in international affairs. Though the dimensional size of the country had unavoidably pushed all of them to deal with foreign affairs, their role was variegated and their performance was unequal. While the Nehru-Gandhi family were the icons of Indian diplomacy, there were others like Morarji Desai, V.P.Singh, H.D.Deve Gowda, Chandra Shekar, etc. who were really marginal either because their mandate was limited by time or by interest. The uniqueness of the book lies in the fact that the author has dealt with all the Prime Ministers, including the ones for whom foreign policy was not crucial.




Indian Defence Review Vol 31.3 (Jul-Sep 2016)


Book Description

In this volume: Coup in Turkey Now in A Coop | Lt Gen JS Bajwa Fifth Generation Aircraft: Battlefield Air Support Mission | Air Marshal Anil Chopra Unmanned Full Scale Fighter Targets for Training and Ucav Technology Development | Sqn Ldr Vijainder K Thakur Women Join the Fighter Stream of the Iaf: Will it Work? | Gp Capt Joseph Noronha First Param Vir Chakra | Sumit Walia Military Aviation and the Indian Air Force | Dr Narender Yadav The Contours of Iddm: A User’s Perspective | Lt Gen VK Saxena Challenges to the Indo-Us Defence Relationship | Abhinav Dutta Aerospace and Defence News | Priya Tyagi About Wars of the Future | Artsrun Hovhannisyan Decision-Making in War: Recalling India’s Military History | Brigadier Amar Cheema China’s Maritime Strategy: Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) | Bharat Lather Is Indianess Reasserting in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir? | RSN Singh Indian and Chinese Covert Efforts | Nicolas Groffman Home Minister in Pakistan: Take Action Against Terrorists and Countries that Support Them | Danvir Singh Decommissioning of Ins Viraat | Danvir Singh Potent Indigenous War Unfolding in Jammu & Kashmir | Brig Narender Kumar China – The New Aerospace Power | Gp Capt AK Sachdev Sino-Pak Collaboration – Military Aviation | Air Marshal Anil Chopra Success Breeds Stunning Success: The Story of India’s Space Endeavour | Gp Capt Joseph Noronha Book Reviews