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

THAAD launcher ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / United States army) Source- The National Interest Author-  Raoul Heinrichs Tensions are once more running high on the Korean Peninsula. Yet again, North Korean provocations have triggered an action-reaction cycle that is bringing into sharp relief the competing interests of each of the major players on the Peninsula. In the latest case, a fourth North Korean nuclear test in January, followed by the launch last week of a satellite aboard what is effectively an intercontinental range ballistic missile, has provided the impetus for Seoul to enter immediately into discussions with Washington about expediting the deployment of a sophisticated ballistic missile defense (BMD) system known as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).  China, for its part, strongly opposes the deployment. Politically, such a development is an affront to China's prestige and its increasing sense of its role as the principal arbiter

Image credits- VOA Source- The Diplomat Author- Kunwar Khuldune Shahid Around 9 a.m. on January 20, four Taliban-affiliated gunmen entered Bacha Khan University, Charsadda in Pakistan’s volatile Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. By around 12:30 p.m., all four of them lay dead in the boys’ hostel. They had been gunned down by local security forces, but not before 21 people, mostly students and staff members, had been killed. This was the second high-profile attack on a Pakistani educational institute in 13 months. On December 16, 2014 the Army Public School in KP’s capital city Peshawar was attacked by militants, killing 144 people, including 132 schoolchildren. The gut-wrenching scenes from the APS attack are believed to be the defining factor behind Pakistan uniting to launch the much touted National Action Plan (NAP) against militancy and extremism. “Had it not been for our security guards everyone would’ve forgotten APS,” the BKU Dean of Sciences Abdus Sattar t

A solar farm ( Image credits- VOA/ Author0 Source- Eurasia Review  Author- Aniket Bhavthankar Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande laid the foundation stone of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) headquartered in Gurgaon during the latter’s visit to India as a chief guest for 67th Republic Day. Modi and Hollande jointly announced formation of the ISA during Conference of Parties-21 in Paris the last year. The ISA visualizes building a partnership between more than 120 countries situated between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn as they receive sunshine in abundance for around 300 days in a year. Currently, 121 countries across the world are part of the ISA. Renewable and non-traditional energy sources are one of the ways to confront the challenges of the climate change. India’s ‘Intended Nationally Determined Contribution’ has set an ambitious target to scale up capacity of renewable energy from 30 GW in 2015-16 to 175 G

A Kilo class submarine ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Ministry of Defence, Russian Federation) Source- The Diplomat Author- Nam Nguyen The fifth Kilo-class submarine procured for the Vietnamese People’s Navy (VPN) arrived at Cam Ranh Bay at the beginning of February. The Russian-built submarine started its journey from St Petersberg on the 16th of December on the Dutch-registered cargo ship Rolldock Star and arrived late in the night on Tuesday, February 2,  according to Thanh Nien News. There are currently four Vietnamese crews, supported by Russian advisers, for each of the existing Kilo-class Type 636 submarines in service with the VPN. Under Vietnam’s expanded relationship with Russia, a purpose-built submarine support facility was included as part of the deal to procure six conventional submarines for the VPN. With the end of this modernization cycle looming on the horizon, however, it remains to be seen how much of an impact these new platforms will ha

Gwadar Port ( Image credits- WIkimedia Commons / J. Patrick Fesher) Source- The Diplomat Author- Muhammad Daim Fazil When Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled the blueprint for the enormous $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project last year, Pakistan was understandably pleased. The Pakistani government considers the project a game changer for its fragile economic structure. This exhilaration partly stems from the country’s wobbly economic performance in recent years, which has seen it fall short of GDP and other financial targets. The project has also elevated Islamabad’s strategic partnership with the regional superpower. CPEC is viewed as a lifeline for Pakistan, yet three potential obstacles could yet derail this multifaceted project. Provincial Resentment in Pakistan A lack of domestic consensus can hinder development in any part of the world, and CPEC is no exception. When CPEC was initially introduced, every mainstream political party sup

USS Leity Gulf , CG-55 ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / United States Navy) Source- The National Interest Author- Dave Majumdar The U.S. Navy’s next generation surface combatants will be developed with information technologies baked into the core of their designs. While the Navy’s current generation of warships like the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers use digital information technology, they were designed in a different era when technology did not evolve as rapidly as today. The next generation replacement for those vessels will have to incorporate digital-information technologies from the outset—and will have to keep pace with rapid technical advancements. “That’s going to be a key part of the next generation of warships,” Adm. John Richardson, U.S. Navy’s chief of naval operations, told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute on February 12. “It will also be digitally native—or information native.” The Navy’s cu