India’s Special Forces: An Appraisal At a time when the battlefield has been progressively transforming from the conventional to unconventional, the role of Special Forces will become critical in shaping its outcome. Conflicts in the past decade have established the primacy of such forces. Their role has evolved and today special operations are meant to be decisive and achieve strategic objectives. The Indian security establishment has also been taking notice of these changes and by and large making right moves. Amit Kumar | April 2015 | Journal of Defence Studies
Afghanistan and the Region Answers to all of Afghan problems can easily be found within the regional context. But the Afghan leadership is not likely to uphold the regional choice now. P. Stobdan | April 20, 2015 | Issue Brief
Fit for Command: Leadership Attributes for PSO–COIN Operations Peace support operations (PSO)–counter-insurgency (COIN) operations are different and often significantly more complex than conventional operations. Such a complexity places greater demand on military leaders both at the tactical and operational levels. The diversity of tasks and threats, primacy of politics and the decentralized nature of PSO–COIN operations have serious implications for both junior and senior leaders. Ivo Moerman , Paolo Tripodi | April 2015 | Journal of Defence Studies
Policing Insurgencies: Cops as Counterinsurgents, edited by C. Christine Fair and Sumit Ganguly Counter-insurgency, referred to as COIN with the usual military fondness for abbreviations, is commonly understood as a military-centric effort that seeks to overwhelm the insurgents with superior numbers, firepower, technology, and funds. In countries like India, central paramilitary forces are enjoined to do so. The central premise in traditional COIN discourse is that insurgency is a military problem requiring a military solution. Akash S. Goud | April 2015 | Journal of Defence Studies
Drone Warfare, by John Kaag and Sarah Kreps Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can carry a payload for the purpose of reconnaissance and surveillance; and those that are armed with missiles and bombs carry a payload for combat use. So, in drone warfare a human being, that is, a pilot flying an aircraft, is unnecessary and his life is not put in danger over the enemy territory. In military technology, drones represent precision weaponry and the rise of robotics. Drones were not armed at all till the 1990s. S.K. Dey | April 2015 | Journal of Defence Studies
Can War be Eliminated?, by Christopher Coker Imagine a book that talks of war, of all wars that have been fought in all of human history. One could be forgiven for assuming that such a volume would run into hundreds of volumes and hundreds of thousands of pages. On the contrary, Christopher Coker’s Can War be Eliminated? is probably the slimmest volume on the shelf on the subject of war. That is because in this book, Coker is not interested in engaging into a conversation about specific wars. He instead speaks of war as a phenomenon in itself, a phenomenon whose military nature is only an aspect and not the core. Vikas Jain | April 2015 | Journal of Defence Studies
Designing Sound Defence Offset Policies Policymakers need to ask themselves ‘What Really Makes Offsets Tick?’ in order to develop an objective framework based on sound principles repeatedly noticed in the offset regulations of ‘The Smarter Lot’ of countries and in the process avoid committing the seven ‘original sins’ that a poorly-designed offset policy may entail. Sandeep Verma | April 17, 2015 | IDSA Comments
Using Temple Gold for Shoring up the Economy: Learning from Kautilya’s Arthashastra Kautilya argues that when the treasury gets depleted, concerted efforts become necessary for its replenishment and even recommends extraordinary measures in emergency situations. But the guiding principle should be what the people consider as beneficial to themselves. P. K. Gautam | April 17, 2015 | IDSA Comments
China’s Biological Warfare Programme: An Integrative Study with Special Reference to Biological Weapons Capabilities This study attempts to profile China’s biological warfare programme (BWP), with special reference to biological weapons (BW) capabilities that exist in facilities affiliated with the defence establishment and the military. For that purpose, a wide variety of facilities affiliated with the defence establishment and with the military are reviewed and profiled. The outcome of that analysis points at 12 facilities affiliated with the defence establishment, plus 30 facilities affiliated with the PLA, that are involved in research, development, production, testing or storage of BW. Dany Shoham | April 2015 | Journal of Defence Studies
Russia’s New Military Doctrine: An Overview The new military doctrine reflects Russia’s views on the changing geo-political order. It perceives key military risks as emanating primarily from the ‘West’ and dwells on measures to counter them. Rajorshi Roy | April 16, 2015 | IDSA Comments
