Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Pinaka ( Image credits- Wikimedia commons/ Author- Hemant Rawat)   India has started ramping up military defences in the Ladakh sector of Jammu and Kashmir that faces China, especially after Beijing has ringed the area with at least six airfields, fighter aircraft, all terrain vehicles and special forces that are backed by top-class metalled roads right up to the Line of Actual Control (LAC). New Delhi will be moving an armoured brigade — some 150 T-72 tanks — to Ladakh and also have Smerch multi-barrel rocket launch units placed at key locations. These are capable of hitting targets 70-80 kms away. An armoured regiment — 46 tanks — had moved in last year to join the Kiari-based 70 Brigade and is now located at a forward sector, 20 km inside the LAC, where India suffered a setback in the 1962 conflict with China. This is separate from the upcoming Armoured Brigade that will be directly controlled by the Leh-based 14 Corps. Its three Regiments, comprising 46 tanks each, will b

Indian Army ( Image credits- Wikimedia commons/ Author- Antonio Malena) For the Indian military, this is a time of some fairly fundamental changes. After decades of pursuing Pakistan-centric war planning, the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force are recalibrating their sights towards the hitherto neglected northern frontiers with China, giving a hard push to improving its war-fighting capabilities against its more powerful neighbor and at the same time, increasing on-the-ground interaction with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This two-track policy, outcome of the experience of the past five years, is aimed at preventing any unnecessary flare ups along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), as the contested border between the two countries is known. In July 2014, this writer has had the opportunity to undertake a rare tour of the border areas in Ladakh, a high mountainous desert that abuts the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). This remote region, rendered inaccessible by road fo

INS Arihant ( Pic Courtesy-Wikimedia Commons and DRDO) India as far as the development of weapons are concerned is still at a nascent stage. Now when you compare the development of high end weapon system, naturally the comparison falls between India and China. But in all the articles that is circulated in the net that one reads, when ever these comparisons take place, India is castigated for the shoddy development cycle of weapon platforms while it is always stated that China is miles ahead of us. To a certain extent, it may be true. But are we so bad is the real question?  On a closer look, India has been in recent years making strides in the development of world class  LCA Tejas ( Pic courtesy- Wikimedia Commons and Author) weapons platforms. India has a robust missile development program that has seen the development of a whole family of new generation missiles. The same is the case with other platforms including the LCA "Tejas", ships like the Shivalik cla

Pic courtesy- Wikimedia and the author As Chinese State Councilor and Special Representative Yang Jiechi arrives in Delhi to discuss the boundary question with his Indian counterpart, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon (it will be the 17th round of talks since 2003), China declared that it hoped to make its common border with India ‘a bridge and bond’............ http://www.indiandefencereview.com/external-news/?news_id=1854