Warfare

Targeted air strikes remain a cornerstone fighting technique in modern counter-insurgency and other military operations. Yet, scholars and practitioners remain divided on the question of the efficacy of this battle mechanism. This article examines some of the underlying assumptions made in their previous analyses, and serves to nuance those approaches. Specifically, it looks at war, not as a static phenomenon but rather as a constantly evolving environment—one where such aerial campaigns affect insurgent counter-strike capabilities and decisions.

• Mayank Bubna
• January 2013
• Journal of Defence Studies

Precision in aerial warfare, which initially lay in the individual skills of combatants, has shifted to machines through the incorporation of advanced technology.

• Vivek Kapur
• May 08, 2012
• Issue Brief

War is a too serious a business to be left to NCOs and Generals must be involved both at the strategic and tactical levels to ensure the moral and disciplined manifestation of a professional military.

• P. K. Gautam
• March 15, 2012
• IDSA Comments

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.

• S. Kalyanaraman
• March 2012
• Strategic Analysis

The commentary makes the case for reopening the Limited War debate in order to inform explicit articulation of a Limited War doctrine.

• Ali Ahmed
• February 29, 2012
• IDSA Comments

The changing nature of warfare, as the twentieth century drew to a close, saw the increased proliferation of conflict between non-state actors and the state. Small wars, wars of liberation, insurgencies, terrorism, proxy wars, sub-conventional warfare and a host of other terminologies emerged that attempted to fingerprint this genre of low spectrum warfare. Initially, it was felt that it was risky to use air power in this kind of warfare and that surface forces were best equipped to fight these wars with only superficial support from air forces.

• Arjun Subramaniam
• September 2010
• Strategic Analysis

Army personnel trained and equipped for conventional warfare find themselves at a disadvantage when deployed for sub-conventional operations. The advancement in technology, changing warfare concepts, induction of sophisticated weapons and support equipments and need to handle far too many variables demand deliberate efforts in ensuring recruitment of desired human resource and their training in the army to suit the requirements of conventional as well as sub-conventional warfare.

• K C Dixit
• July 2010
• Journal of Defence Studies

It is essential to have an army which is capable of responding to conventional as well as sub-conventional warfare requirements with bare minimum turbulence while switching roles from one form of warfare to another.

• K C Dixit
• July 13, 2010
• IDSA Comments

Two thousand years ago the Greeks and Romans used human and animal corpses with great effect to poison wells of drinking water. The practice of throwing the bodies of plague… Continue reading State Actors and Germ Warfare: Historical Perspective

• Animesh Roul
• July-December 2010
• CBW Magazine

While the asymmetrical threat will have an effect on warfare at strategic, operational and tactical levels, the threat will be most dramatic at the operational level.

• K C Dixit
• March 09, 2010
• IDSA Comments