Reading Time: 4 minutesOn March 21, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump made a highly anticipated announcement. The Pentagon awarded the contract for the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) future fighter aircraft to Boeing. It is somewhat coincidental that the 47th President of the United States has designated it as the F-47. Very little information is […]

Reading Time: 7 minutesThe Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mark-II is the flagship, under-development product of the LCA Program, that was itself conceived in the early 1980s. While the Program itself has been afflicted by delays due to various causes, the completion of the TEJAS LCA Mark-I deliveries and the optimistic delivery timelines for the improved Mark-IA variant, should […]

Reading Time: 8 minutesA recent Indian defence committee has recommended increasing private sector participation in military aircraft manufacturing to enhance the Indian Air Force’s capabilities. The committee, led by the defence ministry’s top bureaucrat, submitted its report to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who has directed that the recommendations be implemented promptly. The report emphasises the need for private […]

Reading Time: 5 minutesAmidst narratives of the ongoing conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, increasing employment of missiles and drones have captured the imagination of the military and the civil domains alike, consigning the future of air power to somewhat over-simplistically to bots and swarms. Interestingly, in almost all the current conflicts, conventional or irregular, it is […]

Reading Time: 9 minutesIntroduction Central Asia is an integral element of India’s extended neighborhood. India has enjoyed millennia old historical, cultural, economic and civilisational links with Central Asia. Although the Connect Central Asia Policy was launched in 2012, the region started attracting renewed interest and focus with the coming to power of the government led by Prime Minister […]

Reading Time: 6 minutesIt was waiting to happen.  A big-ticket event revolving around a high-profile act of terror, is something one could have expected any time after the triggering of turbulence in the international order in 2025.  Terrorists too like to show their place in the world’s pecking order of strategic threats. Where, when exactly and what nature […]

Reading Time: 8 minutes13 July 2023. India’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the procurement of 26 Rafale-Marine (Rafale-M) F4 Multi-Role Carrier-Borne Fighters (MRCBF) (including 22 single-seater and 4 trainer variants) for the Indian Navy (IN), to operate from the decks of India’s second and only fully indigenous Aircraft Carrier (AC), INS Vikrant. The […]

Reading Time: 4 minutesThere have been widespread talks and increased curiosity about Pakistan’s plan (now aborted) to annex the 350 km long and 13–65 km wide Wakhan Corridor from Afghanistan. Pakistani analysts have been churning out papers on the corridor’s historical, geographical, and strategic significance to unravel new opportunities for regional integration and connectivity with Central Asia. Pakistan’s […]

Reading Time: 11 minutesThe 15th edition of Aero India, ‘Aero India 2025’ (AI-25) was held from February 10 to February 14, 2025, at Yelahanka Air Force Base, Bengaluru (the venue for all previous editions of Aero India, from 1966). The airshow, held biennially, has held sway as Asia’s largest and arguably most significant airshow, and a global red-letter […]

Reading Time: 6 minutesIntroduction Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Washington DC at the invitation of US President Donald Trump on 12-13 February, 2025. The visit took place within four weeks of the assumption of Office by President Trump in his Second Term. The first few months after the Inauguration of a US President are normally reserved for visits […]

Reading Time: 5 minutesShri Y B Chavan, the then Union Home Minister piloted the bill for constitution and regulation of Border Security Force. While piloting the bill, he said, the purpose of this force is to ensure the security of borders of India, to ensure and instill a sense of confidence in people living on the borders and […]

Reading Time: 5 minutesThe much-awaited 15th Edition of “Aero India 2025” is taking off at the “Yelahanka Air Force Station” on February 10, 2025, in Bengaluru, India’s information technology capital. This event is the largest international air show and aviation expo in Asia. Since 1996, Yelahanka has successfully hosted every edition of the gala event. The first three […]

Reading Time: 5 minutesIn geopolitics the term ‘deep freeze’ is a common phenomenon. Festering issues often go into a state of procrastination by leaders or by circumstances. That is exactly what happened to the war in Ukraine over the last couple of months; the European winter was just incidental.  The war had already been beset by huge attrition […]