Rahul K. Bhonsle

As the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) commemorates its 50th anniversary, the UNODA has released a landmark publication in February 2025, titled “The Biological Weapons Convention at Fifty: Codifying 100 Years of Efforts to Combat Biological Warfare.” More than a celebratory document, this expertly curated anthology offers both a retrospective on a century of efforts against biological warfare and a forward-looking reflection on emerging biosecurity threats. Spanning the evolution of international norms from the Geneva Protocol of 1925 to the adoption of the BWC in 1975, and culminating in the Ninth Review Conference (November–December 2022), the 45-page booklet captures the full scope of the global struggle to prohibit biological weapons. It features contributions from leading experts in biological disarmament, non-proliferation, and global biosecurity, providing historical context and policy insights. As Izumi Nakamitsu, United Nations Under- Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, aptly states in her forward: “This publication aims to inspire renewed determination for a future in which the use of biological weapons is not only unthinkable but also impossible.”

• Harshada Kondlekar, Animesh Roul |
• January-June 2025 |
• CBW Magazine

The continuum of change in militaries is derived from a number of factors, in which application of history plays an important part. The process of Indian Army’s evolution in the plains of Western India could be charted from the lessons learnt from key episodes of the 1965 War.

• Rahul K. Bhonsle |
• July 2015 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The concept of national security has often been taken to merely connote the preservation of sovereignty, territorial integrity and internal stability with the focus on the coercive power of the state. In today’s complex and interdependent world faced with many non traditional threats like pandemics, climate change, etc it must, however, be seen in a more holistic manner.

• Satish Chandra, Rahul K. Bhonsle |
• July 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

This article addresses the declining standards of morality in the armed forces and suggests measures to address it by undertaking appropriate interventions at the grassroots, unit or battalion. It traces the importance of ethics in the military, particularly in the context of the post-modern state, which grants exclusive authority to the armed forces for the use of violence. Further, it examines the state of ethics today and the challenges in codification to arrive at the basic ethical norms that need to be fostered in the military.

• Rahul K. Bhonsle |
• April 2013 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The 1962 India–China War is one of the most debated subjects in India’s recent military history. The discussion has been enriched by accounts of the war by a large number of principal Indian military protagonists, some to justify their own role which had come up for criticism in perspective.

• Rahul K. Bhonsle |
• October 2012 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The challenge of management of human resources may be the most profound in the security sector in the years ahead given transformations happening globally and enhancement of human potential and opportunities for individual growth. The national security sector extending from the military to private security guards denotes the plethora of skills sets required which vary from that of handling highly sophisticated and lethal missile arsenal, to commandeering large aircraft carriers and submarines to securing public space in metropolitan cities.

• Rahul K. Bhonsle |
• October 2010 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Integration of battlefield assets, be it man or machine, has been a time worn cliché in warfare. The orchestration of forces with dissimilar characteristics such as the infantry, charioteers, elephants and cavalry was considered as the spark of a military genius. A few like Alexander or Hannibal distinguished themselves in the art of the set-piece battles, replicated on the modern conventional battlefield.

• Rahul K. Bhonsle |
• August 2007 |
• Journal of Defence Studies