Journal of Defence Studies

Potential Improvements in the Defence Service Estimates

A healthy public discourse could infuse much needed fresh ideas in the management of huge defence outlays. This would be possible only if budget outlays are presented in a demystified format.

Changing Roles of Navies in the Contemporary World Order with Specific Reference to the Indian Navy

As a mature and responsible maritime power, India has a clear self-interest in what happens in her geo-strategic maritime areas of interest. Consequently, the maritime security of India and its environs are central to the functioning of the Indian Navy.

Optimal Resource Allocations for Defence and Inter/Intra Service Sharing

Ideally, resource allocation needs to be based on the strategic goals to be achieved. Presently, we follow incremental budget process, which is widely accepted as suboptimal. Therefore, there is a need to find a more suitable model to replace the existing one.

Planning for Sound Defence Budgets

Greater attention is needed in the areas of formulating a national security strategy in a systematic manner; effecting greater synergy between defence and national plans; capabilities-based planning and greater integration among the Services.

India’s Defence Spending: A Trend Analysis

In past two decades, the Army has witnessed a decrease in its share in the overall budget, whereas the Navy and the Air Force have increased their respective shares. This reflects a shifting priority, from land-centric armed force to an air and naval-centric force.

Address at the Inaugaral Session of the Seminar on Defence Budget

Defence budget accounts for a significant proportion of the central government expenditure. For the current year, the revenue and capital budgets of defence account for more than 20 and 80 per cent of the entire non-plan revenue and capital budget respectively of the central government. This translates into Rs 57,593 crores as revenue budget and Rs 48,007 crores as capital budget for defence. Allocation for defence has generally been the second largest single head of expenditure in the nonplan segment of the central budget.

Offset Absorption: Adding Arsenal to Armament

Considering the volume of defence expenditure planned in the 11th Five Year Plan and in the future, it is certainly befitting for each recipient service to debate methods and procedures that offset this expenditure and contribute towards the economic and technological development of the country.

Enhancing Manufacturing Capability for Efficient Offsets Absorption

Since Independence, as a policy, Defence R&D in India had been reserved for the state sector with the DRDO having been established with the mandate to conduct research into Defence areas. Defence Public Sector Undertaking units (DPSUs) and Ordnance Factories (OFs) were set up with the twin objectives of:

What India can learn from Global Offset Experiences

Boeing has successfully implemented offset programmes in over 35 countries completing over $29 billion in offset commitments and we are currently engaged in executing over 45 active programmes valued at over $14 billion involving 18 countries. Therefore, we have some relevant experience in this area.

Keynote Address at Defence Offsets Seminar

Offsets are today a common feature of international arms trade. It is estimated that offsets and related forms of counter-trade constitute 5 to 30 per cent of global trade. More than a hundred countries use the mode of offsets in their arms contracts. Business and trade analysts put the exact volume of defence offsets at the global level at over $5 billion each year. The United States, the biggest arms exporter in recent times, is obviously one of the largest providers of offsets.