Experts Speak
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May 5, 2022
Beyond The Moskva Sinking
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The threat to naval platforms comes primarily from aircraft and torpedoes but technological advancements in surveillance capabilities, that are networked with missiles based on air, land, and sea platforms, have certainly increased the vulnerability of surface naval assets
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May 5, 2022
Of Lasers and UAVs
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)There are good developments but the need is of speed, given the technological developments globally, particularly in China
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May 5, 2022
India-UK Defence Relations
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated their commitment to boost the defence and security cooperation under the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and enhance engagements in support of a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific
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May 5, 2022
Drone Making in India
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The government has announced easing of rules for registration and operation of drones in the country, as also the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme worth 120 crore to boost indigenous manufacturing of drones
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April 16, 2022
Fourth Indo-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The 2+2 Dialogue was broad based with in-person meetings between the respective Defence Ministers and Foreign Ministers of both countries, preceded by a virtual summit between PM Modi and President Biden
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April 16, 2022
Made in India Advances
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Privatisation is the way for India’s defence industry to grow as we have more than enough potential in the private sector
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April 6, 2022
Military Satellites
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Currently, India has only two dedicated military satellites - the GSAT-7 (Rukmini) and GSAT-7A (Angry Bird) used by the Indian Navy and Air Force respectively. The GSAT-7B satellite would help the Indian Army enhance its surveillance in border areas.
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April 6, 2022
Boost to India-Maldives Relations
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Visit of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is testimony to the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives
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March 16, 2022
Ukraine Conflict is America Contrived
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)There is no prospect of peace because the US does not want it. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is an American puppet playing proxy to the US, and has no compunctions about the destruction of his country.
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March 16, 2022
Atmanirbhar in Defence
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)“The biggest lesson is that we have to be ready to fight future wars with indigenous weapons and the steps towards Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence should be taken more urgently” —General Manoj Mukund Naravane, Chief of the Army Staff
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March 7, 2022
The Russia-Ukraine War – A Maritime Perspective
By Vice Admiral A.K. Chawla (Retd)The warm waters of the Black Sea have been critical to Russia since the 17th century, as they have provided year-long access to ice-free waters and direct access to the Mediterranean and through that, to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
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March 7, 2022
Sanctions against Russia has wider ramifications
By Lt. General J.K. Sharma (Retd)Although economic sanctions are widely used, their effectiveness is often debated. For now, Western governments are putting a higher priority on their support for Ukraine but soon they will need to weigh on how much pain they are prepared to inflict on their own people.
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February 28, 2022
MILAN-2022 and the Indo-Pacific
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)MILAN is a biennial multilateral exercise that has grown progressively in magnitude and this year will witness more than 40 countries sending their warships/high-level delegations
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February 28, 2022
Chinese Missile Repair Base in Bangladesh
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)It is presumed that the maintenance and overhaul facility being set up will double up as a production assembly line of the FM-90 air defence missile system and its advanced variants in future
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February 21, 2022
National Maritime Security Coordinator
By Lt. General Naresh Chand (Retd)The proposal of the post creation was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security during 2021, in order to strengthen the maritime security and ensuring cohesion among various key stakeholders
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February 12, 2022
Quantum Communications
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Quantum technology is evolving quickly and no doubt will have a significant impact not only on warfare but also in terms of national security. However, experts are still not certain what exactly this impact will be!
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February 2, 2022
Defence Budget Allocation 2022-2023
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Defence Budget 2022-23 has been increased to 5.25 lakh crore for 2022-23 from the previous FY allocation of 4.78 lakh crore with a major push on ensuring self-reliance in manufacturing of military platforms
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February 2, 2022
SPARSH – Bane of Vulnerable Segment?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)SPARSH will create unending problems for the pensioners, widows and disabled veterans, and as such, should have been discussed with veterans before commencing its implementation
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February 2, 2022
Learning Ancient Indian Statecraft
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Our ancient texts have universal applicability and drawing the right lessons would help us not only in strengthening our cultural values but also in building credible national security architecture
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January 29, 2022
Look Beyond Traditional Contact Warfare
By Lt. General Abhay Krishna (Retd)Are we prepared today to foil a cyber-attack on our Railway Network, Banking System or Power Grid? The nature of cyber-attacks is such that it is almost always difficult to pinpoint the source of the attack, giving perpetrating nation-states plausible deniability.
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January 15, 2022
Defence Budget 2022-23
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The crux of a defence budget should be to systematically improve the military's capability to meet future threats in keeping with the changing battlefield environments in the 'shortest possible period'
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January 15, 2022
The Railgun
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The railgun is a linear motor, typically designed as a weapon which uses electromagnetic force to launch high velocity projectiles that do not contain explosives but rely on the projectile's mass, high speed and kinetic energy to inflict damage
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January 15, 2022
BrahMos Exports Get Going
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Negotiations for BrahMos between India and the Philippines had been going on for the last few years but the obvious roadblock was Manila’s budgetary constraints
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January 3, 2022
Samudrayan and Indigenous AERV
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)First unmanned trial of MATSYA 6000 and the induction of the first set of indigenously developed next-generation Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicle (AERV) will contribute immensely to Atmanirbhar Bharat
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January 3, 2022
Agni-P, Pralay and SMART Tested
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)With the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) massed up along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) for possible conflict, India has conducted multiple tests of strategic and tactical strike weapons as a signal to China
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December 13, 2021
Indo-Russian Defence Cooperation
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The friendship between India and Russian has stood the test of times and through difficult situations. Both have now signed a programme of cooperation in the field of defence for the next ten years (2021-2031).
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December 13, 2021
SCO Cyber Security Seminar
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)This was the second time India was hosting such a cyber security seminar and first after it took over the Chair of SCO Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) Council
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December 2, 2021
Weapons by Private Firms
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Home Ministry held discussions with some 17 private companies for manufacture of arms. It is known that a number of Indian private companies are into defence manufacturing.
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December 2, 2021
Indigenous LCH, Drones and EW Suit
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking on the occasion of 'Rashtra Raksha Samarpan Parv' said, “For a long time, we were a nation that was a weapons and defence equipment buyer. Today the mantra is 'Make in India, Make for the World'.”
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November 14, 2021
Is China Readying for a Limited War?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)China is hardening its force posture including in Eastern Ladakh; demonstrated by the series of operational and tactical measures it is continuing to take. This is hardly to only intimidate India.
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November 14, 2021
Boosting Naval Power
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The Indian Navy hopes to raise its warships strength from the current 140 to 175 by 2027 which may look ambitious but give the government focus should be feasible
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November 2, 2021
China-Turkey Arming Pakistan
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)A China-Pakistan-Turkey triad will be adverse for India both in the conventional and sub-conventional spheres, given that China-Pakistan and Turkey-Pakistan have already been collaborating at the sub-conventional level.
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November 2, 2021
New Russian Autonomous Underwater Drones
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (AUVs) can be used for underwater survey missions such as detecting and mapping submerged wrecks, rocks, and obstructions that can be a hazard to navigation for commercial and recreational vessels
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October 27, 2021
Ruckus About AUKUS
By Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha (Retd)AUKUS is a military alliance in which sensitive technology will be transferred by the US to Australia which has the potential of tilting the strategic balance in the region
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October 16, 2021
Second Phase Malabar 2021
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The second phase of Malabar 2021 exercise is reflective of the commitment of the participating countries to support a free, open, inclusive Indo-Pacific as well as a rules-based international order
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October 16, 2021
Deep Sea - Lurking Danger
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) are already proliferating and as they grow in size and scope, they will add more complex and capable sonar, AI brains, communications links, and other technologies that will allow them to better monitor enemy submarine movements and attack them when required
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October 6, 2021
QUAD Leaders Summit and AUKUS
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)QUAD can actually be as powerful as AUKUS or even more, in case the capabilities of all members is built up suitably, under the pledge of sharing critical and futuristic technologies
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October 6, 2021
Rocket Force and Theatre Commands
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)A committee was constituted that includes Vice Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff and representatives of other ministries and departments, to resolve internal differences of Armed Forces, consult external stake holders like the MHA and MoF and look into the structure, composition, nomenclature and reporting channels of the proposed tri-Service commands
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October 6, 2021
Simulators for Armed Forces
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The policy document lays emphasis on indigenous design and development as well as outsourcing of operation and maintenance of simulators to the Indian companies
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October 6, 2021
Prime Minister Modi Meets Global CEOs
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The excellent initiative taken by the Prime Minister in meeting with the CEOs of global firms will help improve the technological prowess of India, improve the economy, contribute towards Atmanirbhar Bharat and open up more employment opportunities
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September 16, 2021
India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Both India and Australia agreed to work jointly to realise full potential of the bilateral Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).
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September 16, 2021
Minesweeping Criticality
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Though the deal was supposed to be closed in 2016 but discussions on technology transfer (ToT) reportedly caused delays
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September 16, 2021
Forces Arming for Drone Warfare
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)All the three services of the Indian Armed Forces are moving ahead speedily for the acquisition of Drones and Anti-Drone technologies, mostly indigenous systems that are developed by Indian companies
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September 16, 2021
Landing Platform Docks
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)After a lapse of over a decade, MoD now has again revived the project to indigenously build 4 x LPDs for the Indian Navy
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September 6, 2021
Vikrant's Light Signaling System
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Indian Navy personnel have been trained by Aerosvet's engineers in installation of light signaling system on INS Vikrant
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September 6, 2021
Light Drone Interceptor
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The terrorist threat to India has gone up with the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan. The possibility of terrorists using drones has certainly gone up, as is the possibility of CBRN attacks.
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August 21, 2021
Geopolitical Shifts Could Unfold Post T-Afghanistan
By Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha (Retd)China is entering this space created by the withdrawal of US troops. It will like to swiftly maneuver in order to gain significant advantage towards solidifying its continental strategy driven by BRI.
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August 15, 2021
US Superpower Image Cracks
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)With the pull-out from Afghanistan, the superpower image of the US has taken a severe hit and that too at a time when Washington may have to deal with China and Russia collectively
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August 15, 2021
Maritime Security to The Fore
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)With increasing maritime threats, India is all set to establish a National Maritime Security Coordinator (NSMC). The NSMC will interface between the civilian and military maritime domain with the objective of enhancing security architecture and energy security of India.
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August 6, 2021
Coming - MQ-9 Reapers and Armed Herons
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Once cleared by the DAC, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will need to give its final approval before procurement of the Predator-B armed drones can move forward
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August 6, 2021
Malabar Exercise - Signaling China
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)People's Republic of China should be taking cognizance of the global reaction to its belligerent and expansionist territorial claims including its maritime claims in the East and South China seas.
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August 6, 2021
Vikrant on Sea Trials
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Vikrant is also known as the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1, or IAC-1. It will be the second ship to bear the name 'Vikrant'.
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July 19, 2021
China's Underwater Drones
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Mass deployment of Drones gives a tremendous underwater advantage to Beijing not only for quietly gathering hydrographic data in territorial waters of other countries but also military advantage to the PLA
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July 19, 2021
Procuring Kamov Helicopters
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The Armed Forces urgently need 498 light utility helicopters to replace their obsolete single-engine Cheetah/Chetak fleets, which have been dogged by a high crash rate and serviceability problems.
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July 6, 2021
Defence Cyber Command
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Indian Government is planning to set up a 'proper' Cyber Command in the hinterland of Madhya Pradesh for providing a fighting edge to the proposed Theatre Commands
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June 22, 2021
Second Negative Import List
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)An all around growth of our defence industry is required, not through the DRDO-OFB-DPSUs alone with role of private defence industry and MSMEs relegated to being subcontracted to the governmental defence industrial complex
