Experts Speak
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November 29, 2018
Stealth Frigates with Russian Help
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)In September 2018, our media had reported that government has cleared the way for one of the biggest purchases from Russia — $2.2billion frigates deal...
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Issue No 5/2018
Arihant – More Than an Enemy Slayer
By Vice Admiral Satish Soni (Retd)The complexity involved in building a nuclear submarine indigenously, arming it with a submarine launched land attack missile tipped with a nuclear warhead, putting her to sea with a trained crew and having a Command and Control system in place was worthy of an acknowledgement by the Prime Minister
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November 19, 2018
PM Narendra Modi visits Maldives
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his brief maiden visit to Maldives on November 17 to attend the swearing in Ceremony of new Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on invitation of the latter.
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November 19, 2018
Arihant completes Deterrent Patrol
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)INS Arihant completed its maiden deterrent patrol at sea on 5 November 2018. Being the lead ship of India's Arihant class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, the 6,000 tonne vessel was built under the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) Project at the Ship Building Centre in the port city of Visakhapatnam.
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November 19, 2018
Military Drones - private industry is Way Forward
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)As per news reports, a private Gurgaon-based company, 'Vortex UAS', has been working on providing military drones, including weaponised versions, for the Indian Army, the Navy and the National Security Guard (NSG).
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October 30, 2018
13th India-Japan Annual Summit
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Japan on 28-29 October 2018 for the 13th India-Japan Annual Summit for wide-ranging discussions on bilateral, regional...
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October 30, 2018
Diving Support Vessels for Indian Navy
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Vishakhapatnam is to manufacture diving support vessels (DSVs) for the Indian Navy.
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October 17, 2018
Visit of Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who had visited India in July 2016 before he was elected Secretary General, made his maiden visit to India from October 1 to October 4.
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October 17, 2018
Maldives Turns A Leaf
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Maldives has turned a leaf with the surprise defeat of President Abdulla Yameen in the recent elections. Mohamed Solih, consensus candidate of the joint opposition has emerged winner.
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October 6, 2018
S-400 Triumf for India
By Air Marshal B.K. Pandey (Retd)A major acquisition of defence equipment from Russia has delivered a clear message to the Trump administration on India’s perspective of strategic autonomy in matters of national security.
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October 6, 2018
Visit of President Vladimir Putin - big boost to strategic ties
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India on 4-5 October to attend the 19th Indo-Russian Summit has provided a big boost to the bilateral strategic partnership. His visit came at a time of angst in Moscow in what it sees as India’s tilt towards the US while New Delhi views growing China-Russia-Pakistan alignment with concern.
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October 6, 2018
Beyond National Register for Citizens
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)There has been much talk of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam relating to illegal immigrants, though many would like to paint it a communal issue.
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October 6, 2018
Can Pak Arm Terrorists with Chemicals?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)After security forces gunned down two terrorists in Bandipora are of J&K last month, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) issued a statement on September 23 that chemical weapons were used to kill these terrorists.
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October 6, 2018
New Tri-Service Divisions
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)In November 1988, Maldives President Abdul Gayoom sent an SOS to India having taken refuge in Maldives National Security Headquarters when a group of 80-200 Sri Lankan militants of People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE)...
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October 6, 2018
India Must Acquire Amphibious Aircraft
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)In November 1988, Maldives President Abdul Gayoom sent an SOS to India having taken refuge in Maldives National Security Headquarters when a group of 80-200 Sri Lankan militants of People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam...
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September 19, 2018
Coming Up – 19th Indo-Russian Summit
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Russian President Vladimir Putin is to arrive in New Delhi for the 19th Indo-Russian summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 5. Modi had invited Putin for the 19th Annual Summit in India at the first informal Summit between the two leaders on May 21, 2018 at Sochi in the Russian Federation.
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September 19, 2018
Chagos Islands – Victim of British Skullduggery
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)There was the time when the ‘sun did never set on the British Empire’. But that state was achieved through treachery, deceit and deception, with fair amount of immorality. Post Independence of India, British conspired invasion of J&K through Mountbatten, Lockhart and Douglas Gracey...
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September 19, 2018
Chabahar – time to operationalize
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Concurrent to the Indo-US 2+2 Dialogue in Delhi on September 6, India was also hosting Iran’s Roads & Urban Development Minister Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi who held discussions with his Indian counterpart Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.
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September 19, 2018
Nepal in Dragon’s Jaws
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)China has agreed to allow Nepal to use four seaports and three land ports for the third country trade. The seaports are Shenzen, Lianyungang, Zhanjiang and Tianjin, and the land ports are Lanzhou, Lhasa and Xigatse.
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September 19, 2018
India’s Amphibious Capability Deficit
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The Indian Navy has no amphibious aircraft. In 1997, Japan had offered to place two ShinMaywa US-1A aircraft (predecessor of ShinMaywa US-2) in Andaman and Nicobar Islands free of cost, to be operated jointly by India and Japan for sea surveillance.
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September 7, 2018
Indo-US 2+2 Dialogue
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The first ever Indo-US 2+2 Dialogue finally took place on September 6, 2018 after two postponements over past one year.
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September 7, 2018
Visit of Chinese Defence Minister
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Commenting on multiple transgression by the across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) including a major one in Sikkim post the informal summit in Wuhan between Prime Minister Narendar Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Claude Arpi...
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September 7, 2018
ISRO's Manned Mission – and more
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)During his address from Red Fort on 15 August 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would launch a manned mission in space in the year 2022 - the 75th Independence year.
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September 7, 2018
Is Imran Khan another Musharraf
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Imran Khan is the second Pathan to be elevated to the top job in Pakistan after Yahya Khan. His radical background is well established known. His links with Taliban and his funding of the Haqqani seminary known as the 'Oxford of Global Jihad' is well documented, which earned him the title of "Taliban Khan".
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September 7, 2018
Indo-Russian Defence Cooperation
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Speaking to Russian media in June 2018, the Indian Ambassador to Russia had said that India is continuing to negotiate with Russia for jointly developing a Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA).
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August 16, 2018
Prime Minister's Independence Day Message
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Speaking from the ramparts of the Red Fort for his fifthtime Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke mostly about the achievements of his government over the past four years including the various schemes launched by his administration, and future dreams.
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August 16, 2018
Delhi's Missile Shield
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Delhi is to get a missile shield "soon", which the media says will be akin to that of Washington and Moscow. Going by past experience, the "soon" could be any number of months, even years.
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August 16, 2018
Quading China
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)There is a viewpoint that the fast developing US-Japan-Vietnam-Australia-India consort, coupled with the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), would increase China's Malacca dilemma for its energy imports notwithstanding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and alternate through Myanmar.
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August 16, 2018
Indo-US Defence Technology Conundrum
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)There is jubilation in India over the US granting the Strategic Trade Authorisation-1 (STA-1) that will ease export controls for high technology product sales to the country.
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August 3, 2018
Modi's Rwanda, Uganda visit and BRICS summit
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)As part of his recent three-nation tour to Africa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Rwanda, Uganda and then South Africa where he attended the BRICS summit.
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August 3, 2018
India, Pakistan in SCO drill – Option in lighter vein
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Going by media reports India and Pakistan are to be part of anti-terror mega drill in Russia under aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) next month; scheduled from August 22 to August 29.
