Military Affairs

Indigenous Historical Knowledge: Kautilya and His Vocabulary (Volume III)

Publisher: Pentagon Press

This book is the third in a series of three volumes on "Kautilya and His Vocabulary" as a part of the "Indigenous Historical Knowledge" project undertaken by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. The edited volumes contain select papers presented in a series of workshops, national and international seminars organised by the Institute. The project is an attempt to trace, look into, analyse and relate with the indigenous strategic thinking in India. These volumes aim at initiating the study, internalisation, spread and consolidation of Kautilya's Arthashastra in the strategic domain. The four focus themes in the three volumes are foreign policy, intelligence, war and internal security as they relate to contemporary times.

ISBN 978-81-8274-909-2,
Price: ₹. 795
E-copy available

P. K. Gautam , Saurabh Mishra , Arvind Gupta
2016

Publisher: Pentagon Press

Bringing about change in any setup, especially major shifts, is a challenges. This challenges is accentuated further in a strictly hierarchical organisation like the army, presenting an unenviable contradiction to both senior military practitioner and the governing elite, wherein, change is inevitable, yet, it is most likely to be resisted.

ISBN 978-81-8274-919-1,
Price: ₹ 795
E-copy available

Vivek Chadha
2016

Kautilya’s Arthashastra: Contemporary Issues and Comparison

In order to make a work relevant, scholarly attempts to study the text such as Kautilya’s Arthashastra, and then critically apply it to explain, compare and understand contemporary issues is necessary. This monograph intends to fulfil this aim in a small way.

P. K. Gautam
2015

Publisher: Pentagon Press

In over a century since the first manned flight, air power has made spectacular progress. Every conflict since World War II has seen an increasingly bigger role of air power, but despite this, to a general reader, air power continues to be esoteric. The study highlights major air power lessons of all the major conflicts, and explains air power roles and missions. It frankly yet fairly discusses the somewhat contentious subject of air power in support of surface forces and traces the IAF’s contribution in war and peace in the last 68 years since independence. It critically examines if use of air power in the Indian subcontinent is indeed escalatory.

ISBN 978-81-8274-853-8
E-copy available

Ramesh Phadke
2015

Publisher: Pentagon Press

This book is the first in a series of three volumes on “Kautilya and His Vocabulary” as a part of the “Indigenous Historical Knowledge” project undertaken by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. The edited volumes contain select papers presented in a series of workshop, national and international seminars organised by the institute. The project is an attempt to trace, look into, analyse and relate with the indigenous strategic thinking in India. These volumes aim at initiating the study, internalisation, spread and consolidation of Kautilya’s Arthashastra in the strategic domain. The four focus themes in the three volumes are foreign policy, intelligence, war and internal security as they relate to contemporary times.

ISBN 978-81-8274-849-1,
Price: ₹. 695.00
E-copy available

P. K. Gautam , Saurabh Mishra , Arvind Gupta
2015

Stealth Technology and its Effect on Aerial Warfare

In aerial warfare technology has progressed rapidly from the frail and flimsy machines seen in the air in the first half of the twentieth century. This monograph attempts to commence task of explaining stealth technology, looking at possible counters to stealth and discussing the ways in which stealth technology changes the conduct of aerial warfare.

Vivek Kapur
2014

Arthasastra: Lesson for the Contemporary Security Environment with South Asia as a Case Study

In this monograph, the Arthasastra framework is used for examination of dynamics of fragility in South Asia, with a case study of Pakistan. The insights into human policy choices which can be gleaned from the treatise have a timeless quality that can offer a fresh perspective to today’s policy makers. It can be open to further academic investigation and debate for developing and enriching an indigenous strategic vocabulary.

Sachin More
2014

Revenue Procurement Practices in the Indian Army

This monograph examines some aspects of the Indian Army’s revenue procurement practices. It discusses the peculiarities of these practices in the Indian defence and security setup, relating it to the contemporary risk scenario. This study draws attention to the corresponding trends in the private or commercial sector.

Venu Gopal
2014

Publisher: Pentagon Press

India’s role as a security provider has increasingly been discussed and debated over a period of time. This has received a fillip as a result of India's growing capabilities, both economic and military. The 2015 edition of the Asian Strategic Review, is possibly the first book which analyses this facet in the Asian context. The book assesses India's capabilities as well as existing limitations. It contextualizes India's role in relation to important regions. Multinational fora and specific countries in Asia. The publication aims to provide greater clarity on the past, present and future contours of India's role as a security provider, in light of evolving strategic contours and its security implications.

ISBN 978-81-8274-825-5,
Price: ₹ 995/-
E-copy available

S. D. Muni , Vivek Chadha
2014

British Reforms to Its Higher Defence Organisation: Lessons for India

All is not right with the Indian Higher Defence Organisation (HDO) became public knowledge, perhaps for the first time, after the Kargil War in 1999. There have been significant changes in the geo-strategic situation and the nature of threat faced by India over the years and yet little has changed in the higher defence management and the HDO of the country.

Rajneesh Singh
2014

The Chinese Navy, Its Regional Power and Global Reach

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)’s recent accomplishments are impressive but have not gone beyond ‘pocket excellence’, as its overall structure and equipment are still out of date. However, the PLAN now has ships and powerful weapons that enable it to extend its combat range and engage its foes in a relatively large-scale maritime campaign beyond the Yellow Sea—its traditional battlefield. Depending on the nature of operations, it may already be able to carry out blue water missions around the first island chain in the West Pacific.

Making the Law of the Sea – A Study in the Development of International Law by James Harrison

The cornerstone of international law is ‘applicability of law based on consent’. Being bereft of any legislative machinery to legislate international law in the international sphere, the statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) adumbrates ‘treaty, customary international law and general principles of law, etc.’, as the sources of international law. Treaties (both bilateral and multilateral) formulation, however, is one such mechanism of codification of international law in which consent is given explicitly to a rule of international law.

Asymmetric Warfare: A View from India

Coined a few years ago, ‘asymmetric warfare’ is an umbrella term that includes insurgent and terrorist campaigns that Western militaries were forced to contend with in the course of external interventions. Asymmetric wars for Western countries are wars of choice, not wars of necessity.

Somali Piracy: A Form of Economic Terrorism

Piracy over the years has been driven by geography, political instability and the availability of safe havens. Apart from these established factors, economics too play a role. This article reviews and examines Somali piracy, which has flourished due to the international community ignoring the growing instability in Somalia, the rampant illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping. It examines the international response, the legal and economic factors and advocates that piracy be viewed as a form of economic terrorism and be combatted as such, as well as by land-based operations.

Indian Ocean Naval Symposium: Uniting the Maritime Indian Ocean Region

The Indian Ocean, the third largest oceanic expanse in the world, is the birthplace of maritime civilisation and has always been an ‘active’ ocean. It is now perceived to be the world's centre of gravity in strategic terms, proving the prophetic words that are often attributed to A.T. Mahan: ‘Whoever controls the Indian Ocean will dominate Asia … the destiny of the world would be decided on its waters’.

India’s Critical Role in the Resilience of the Global Undersea Communications Cable Infrastructure

Introduction

Sarabjeet Singh Parmar , Ronald J. Rapp , Franz-Stefan Gady , Karl Frederick Rauscher
May 2012
Strategic Analysis

Charting a Maritime Security Cooperation Mechanism in the Indian Ocean: Sharing Responsibilities among Littoral States and User States

The main objective of this article is to highlight the challenge of maritime security in the region geographically bounded by the Indian Ocean. It studies the current status of maritime security in the region from both the traditional and non-traditional points of view. From the traditional security perspective, it examines the strategic interests of the major Indian Ocean players—the China–India competition and India–US relations in particular—in addition to the existing maritime disputes among the littoral states.

Indian Naval Strategy in the Twenty First Century by James R. Holmes, Andrew Winner and Toshi Yoshihara

The 44th book in the Cass Series on Naval Policy and History, this book is an academic study of India's emerging maritime strategy from a Western perspective. Not surprisingly, therefore, it attempts to offer a systematic analysis of the shadow play between Western military thought and Indian maritime traditions.

The Creation of Indian Integrated Commands: Organisational Learning and the Andaman and Nicobar Command

India took an unprecedented step 10 years ago by setting up a joint theatre operational command for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANC). This article seeks to examine the following questions: why did India decide to establish its first joint operational command? Why has the creation of this and other unified commands been so incremental in the Indian context? What are the arguments for and against jointness, integration and joint operational commands in the Indian context?

Maritime Developments in the South Western Indian Ocean and the Potential for India’s Engagement with the Region

The Indian Ocean region, being a vast geographical entity, is composed of various regional and sub-regional entities. This article addresses prominent maritime developments in the South Western Indian Ocean (SWIO) region of the Indian Ocean Rim and highlights the multi-dimensional growth of strategic maritime activities in the region.

Decoding Key Naval Responses to the Red Sea Crisis

The peaceful resolution of the civil war in Yemen is key to addressing the maritime security challenges in the Red Sea region.

India and the Scorpene Club

The creation of a ‘Scorpene Club’ could collectively benefit India, Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia, all operators of the French-origin submarine.

How Dharma Shapes Strategic Thought On War in the Mahabharata

The Occasional Paper employs the dharmic viewpoint of the Mahabharata to derive the fundamental elements of ancient Indian strategic thought. It evaluates the role of dharma as it shapes war as a defining element of strategic thought.

Defence Budget 2024-25: Trend Analysis

The budget estimates for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for 2024-25 are Rs 621,540.85 crore, constituting 13.04 percent of the total Union Budget and 4.7 per cent higher than BE 2023-24.

The Road Ahead for AUKUS in 2024

As the roadmap and scope of the two pillars of AUKUS are now clearly defined, near-term tangible outcomes can be expected to materialise from 2024 onwards.

R. Vignesh
January 12, 2024
Issue Brief

Aerial Drones in Future Wars: A Conceptual Perspective

Aerial drones are fast making way into military operations. With further advancement of technology, their role in warfare is set to increase exponentially. The new generation aerial drones promise to be at the centre stage of military operations in future warfare, in both lethal and non-lethal roles.

Future Warfare and Artificial Intelligence: Visible Path

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging as the most disruptive technology of the current era and is advancing exponentially. AI is growing around the concept of machines acquiring human like intelligence for problem solving. Though still in early evolutionary stage, it is already changing the ways the day to day thing are being done.