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

USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / United States Navy) Source- The National Interest Author- Dave Majumdar Earlier today the U.S. Navy’s top uniformed officer released a new plan to keep the sea service ahead of its Russian and Chinese rivals. While the new document will shape the Navy’s strategy, the service uses the term “design” to emphasize the its built-in flexibility to recognize the rapid rate of change occurring in both technology and the maritime domain. “This guidance frames the problem and a way forward, while acknowledging that there is inherent and fundamental uncertainty in both the problem definition and the proposed solution,” Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations. “As we move forward, we'll respect that we won't get it all right, and so we'll monitor and assess ourselves and our surroundings as we go. We'll learn and adapt, always getting better, striving to the limits of performanc

Sukhoi PAK-FA ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Dmitry Pichugin) Source- The Diplomat Author- Franz Stefan-Gady During the annual India-Russia summit, which took place in late December 2015 in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi failed to resolve an ongoing disagreement between the two countries over the future of a joint fifth generation fighter program. India and Russia in early 2007 signed an intergovernmental agreement to co-develop a fifth generation fighter–the Sukhol/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) or as it known in India, the Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF). The aircraft will be a multi-role, single seat, twin-engine air superiority/deep air support fighter with stealth capabilities and is based on the Sukhoi PAK FA (Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation) T-50 prototype, currently undergoing flight tests in Russia. Ever since 2007, however, the  weapons program has experienced v

Image credits- VOA Source- The National Interest Author- Milton Ezrati The contrast is striking. The United States, especially during this political season, talks to itself about the hard choice between sustaining its global footprint and “nation building at home.” China’s leadership, meanwhile, has launched ambitious programs in both areas, enlarging its global footprint and re-orientating the emphasis of its economy. The distinction is even more striking when one considers the disparity in the resources available to each country. America’s dominance and overwhelming resources gives Washington and the country at large the luxury to posture and procrastinate decisions. Beijing, with no such luxury, has had to grapple with its issues more aggressively and decisively. Take the geopolitical picture. Inaction leaves Washington dominant. It has long enjoyed hegemonic status across the Pacific. Its Japanese, South Korean, Taiwanese and other alliances have helped bring t

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Ajay Shukla) Source- The Diplomat Author- Franz Stefan- Gady India’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) will conduct a flight demonstration during this year’s Bahrain International Air Show held from January 21-23, The Business Standard reports based on information obtained from India’s Ministry of Defense. “The show will witness flying demonstration of the ‘Tejas’, the latest and state of the art Light Combat Aircraft, the ‘Four-plus’ generation and highly cost effective fighter aircraft,” a defense ministry spokesperson said on January 1. The display and flight demonstration of the Tejas fighter jet can be interpreted as a direct response to Pakistan’s attempt to sell its jointly-developed Pakistan Aeronautical Complex/Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (PAC/CAC) JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft on the international arms market. However, whereas Pakistan has already inducted the JF-17 into the Pakistan Air Force, only one fi

Image credits- VOA "There is no life to be found in violence. Every act of violence brings us closer to death. Whether it's the mundane violence we do to our bodies by overeating toxic food or drink or the extreme violence of child abuse, domestic warfare, life-threatening poverty, addiction, or state terrorism. - Bell Hooks" Call it by any name, but terrorism has only one language, the language of death. As the dust settles at Pathankot and the anti terror ops enters it's final stages, several uncomfortable questions arise. The most prominent one is " can you trust Pakistan?" It is  an undeniable fact that each time India goes all the way with the gestures for peace, Pakistan stabs us in the back. This happened in Kargil and has happened again. It is a bare fact that such heavenly armed terrorists could not have sneaked into India without the active connivance of the Pakistani military establishment. The Pakistani establishment cannot escape f

JMSDF ships ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons ) Source- The National Interest Author-  Harry J. Kazianis It seems that Japan is developing plans to craft its own Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) strategy—or what one former Japanese official describes as “maritime supremacy and air superiority”—against the Chinese Navy. The plan itself, detailed by Reuters, makes a tremendous amount of good sense: “Tokyo is responding by stringing a line of anti-ship, anti-aircraft missile batteries along 200 islands in the East China Sea stretching 1,400 km (870 miles) from the country's mainland toward Taiwan. . . “While the installations are not secret, it is the first time such officials have spelled out that the deployment will help keep China at bay in the Western Pacific and amounts to a Japanese version of the "anti-access/area denial" doctrine, known as "A2/AD" in military jargon, that China is using to try to push the United States and its a

Admiral Jonathan Greenert inspects Indian navy guard of honour ( Image credits- Flickr / United States Navy) Source- The National Interest Author- Peter Harris Many analysts believe that the international system is sliding towards multipolarity, a world in which no single great power is in a position to dominate its peers. But among those who subscribe to this view, there is some debate over just how the coming multipolar order will operate. Will great powers work together to uphold order? Will they instead descend into military and economic competition with one another? Or can planet Earth support multiple world orders, co-existent yet separate, each under the sway of a particular great power? There are no iron-clad answers to these questions. Yet current geopolitics does, perhaps, allow for a glimpse into the future. In particular, the international politics of the Indian Ocean can be considered something of a microcosm of multipolarity in the twenty-first century.

Indian PM Narendra Modi in Moscow with President Putin ( Image credits- Flickr / MEA Official image gallery) Source- The Diplomat Author- Sumit Kumar In late December, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first state visit to Russia to take part in the 16th annual bilateral summit. Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin used the summit to review bilateral ties across a number of areas, including security, trade, commerce, science and technology, defense, and energy. Talking about the relationship, Modi described Russia as “a strong and reliable friend,” while Putin expressed his happiness about “developing the privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia.” This rhetoric, along with the signing of sixteen agreements, is being seen as very significant in sustaining and expanding India-Russia ties. One major step taken is a deepening of India’s defense partnership with Russia. On the eve of Modi’s visit to Russia, the Indian government announced t

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons Source- The National Interest Author- Michael Peck As Americans fret about the rise of China and a perceived decline in U.S. power, consider this: How does the future look to a second-tier nation that isn't America or China, but faces many of the same challenges? Britain's Ministry of Defense has released a new forecast of what the world will look like in 2035, and it doesn't seem a friendly place for the UK, let alone the U.S. The report, titled "Future Operating Environment 2035," is also interesting as a look at the world through the eyes of a former imperial superpower managing the decline of its power. The study sees America and China as the leading global powers. But unfortunately for a middleweight nation like Britain, more middleweights are entering the ring. "Other rising powers, such as Brazil and India, will take a strategic interest beyond their own regions in pursuit of resources," Brit

Chinese carrier Liaoning ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Simon Yang) Source- The Diplomat Author- Shinnon Tiazzi A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson confirmed on Thursday that China is currently building an aircraft carrier in Dalian, a port city in northeastern China. The carrier will be China’s second, but the first to be indigenously-built. China’s current aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was Russian-made and purchased from Ukraine. The Liaoning was totally refitted by Beijing and commissioned in 2012.   This isn’t the first we’ve heard of China’s second aircraft carrier, but it’s the first time the Defense Ministry has official confirmed the project. Defense Ministry spokesperson Yang Yujun told the press that “relevant authority started the research and development of China’s second aircraft carrier, which is currently under independent design and construction.” He emphasized that the new carrier is home-grown — “designed independently by China.” Earl