Tejas fighter to make international debut at Bahrain

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 2nd Jan 16



India�s home-grown fighter is set to debut
on the international stage. The defence ministry has announced that the Tejas
will perform aerobatic displays at the Bahrain International Air Show from
January 21-23.



�The show will witness flying demonstration
of the �Tejas�, the latest and state of the art Light Combat Aircraft, the
�

Confidence building steps the way forward in Indo-Pak talks

Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 2nd Jan 16



The frustrating saga of Indo-Pakistan
dialogue is widely regarded as an exercise that has yielded little success.



Yet, on New Year Day, New Delhi and
Islamabad exchanged lists of their nuclear installations, as part of an
agreement that prohibits both sides from attacking each other�s nuclear
facilities. This is the 25th straight year that

LR-SAM operationalised: Indian Navy successfully tests long-delayed air defence missile

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 30th Dec 15



In a giant capability boost for the Indian
Navy, a naval warship today test-fired a new missile that can shoot down
incoming aerial threats --- such as aircraft and missiles --- whilst they are
still 70 kilometres away.



A defence ministry press release today
stated: �Adding a quantum jump in its air defence capability, INS Kolkata,

International figures say India no longer biggest arms importer; India�s own figures say still Number One

Calculating arms imports is difficult; for example, INS Kochi, an India-built destroyer, has numerous imported systems



By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 29th Dec 15



The authoritative Congressional Research
Service (CRS), which provides data and analysis to the US Congress, finds that
India no longer features in the world�s three biggest arms importers.



A new CRS report, according to

Trade, energy and defence take centrestage in Modi�s talks with Putin

From the joint statement:



Beyond six nuclear power reactors at Kudankulam, Russia welcomed progress in identifying second site in India for additional six nuclear reactors.



Inter-governmental agreement (IGA) for building Kamov-226 helicopters under �Make in India� scheme.



Joint Study Group for studying possibility of hydrocarbon pipeline system connecting Russia and India.

S-400 missiles, Kamov-226 helicopters, Gen-5 fighters on Modi�s agenda in Russia

The Russian S-400 air defence missile that could feature in Modi's agreements with Putin in Russia today



By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 24th Nov 15



Why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi
visiting Russia on what much of the world considers Christmas Eve? Because it
will not be Christmas in Russia until January 7, according to the Gregorian
calendar, when Orthodox Christians --- Russia�s

Book Review: "JFK's Forgotten Crisis", by Bruce Riedel

Title : JFK�s Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the
CIA, and Sino-Indian War

Author: Bruce Riedel

Publisher: The
Brookings Institution, Washington

Pages : 231

Price : $30.67



By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 23rd Dec 15



Bruce Riedel is a Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) veteran, who has advised the last four US presidents on South and

Offsets fetch growing interest from aerospace manufacturers

By Ajai
Shukla

Belgaum

Business Standard, 19th Dec 15



On Thursday
in Hyderabad, a small Indian firm called Aequs Aerospace signed an agreement
with global giant, Boeing, for manufacturing components for the Chinook CH-47 helicopter
that the Indian Air Force (IAF) bought this year.



Aequs,
which operates from a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Belgaum (officially Belagavi),
will be a

MoD clears Rs 30,000 crore buy of Russian S-400 air defence system

By Ajai
Shukla

Business
Standard, 18th Dec 15



On
Thursday, the defence ministry�s apex procurement body, the Defence Acquisition
Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, cleared the purchase
of the S-400 mobile surface to air missile system (M-SAM), Russia�s latest and
most vaunted air defence system.



A Reuters
report, quoting a source speaking on condition of

Govt appoints judicial commission on OROP, veterans reject outright

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 15th Dec 15




With the appointment of a one-man judicial
commission to look into the implementation of the One Rank, One Pension (OROP)
scheme for ex-servicemen, the government has tried in vain to signal
flexibility in resolving this vexed dispute.



On Monday, the defence ministry (MoD) named
Justice L Narasimha Reddy, retired chief justice of the

US to help India develop engine for Gen-5 fighter, AMCA likely to be powered by GE's Enhanced F-414 engine

US cites �strengthening
relationship� with India to clear engine technology release



By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 12th Dec 15



On Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar�s
first official visit to the United States from December 7-10, Washington has
signalled its willingness to co-develop with India an aircraft engine for
India�s indigenous fifth-generation fighter that is called the

Defence equipment parameters should be realistic

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 11th Dec 15



It has been reported that the secretary to
the Department of Defence Production complained, in a lecture earlier this week
at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, that the military frames such
ambitious specifications for equipment being procured that Indian companies get
left out of the procurement -- because they simply cannot

Ministry of defence targets 70% indigenisation by 2027

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 11th Dec 15



Speaking in New Delhi on Monday, the
defence ministry�s secretary in charge of defence production, AK Gupta, announced
an ambitious target to �achieve a level of 70 per cent [defence] indigenisation
by 2027.



Analysts regard this as unrealistic,
considering that Gupta himself estimates that �the indigenous content in total
defence

At Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad, Swaraj calls for land access to Afghanistan

�The Heart of Asia cannot
function if arteries are clogged� says the foreign minister



By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 10th Dec 15



The bonhomie from freshly resuscitated
India-Pakistan relations, and from Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj�s arrival in
Islamabad to attend the fifth Heart of Asia Conference on Afghanistan, could
not hide the deep schisms that remain between New Delhi and

New missile adds teeth to the navy: a look at the LR-SAM

The air force version of this missile, the MR-SAM, will undergo its first test flight next year



By Ajai
Shukla

Business
Standard, 2nd Dec 2015



A
successful missile test on Thursday, in the Mediterranean Sea off the Israeli
port of Haifa, is potentially a giant capability leap for Indian and Israeli warships.



Developed
jointly by both countries, Israelis refer to the new missile

Parrikar gets experts� report on improving civil-military relations

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 26th Nov 15



On Tuesday evening, close by where military
veterans are staging a long-running protest to support their �one rank, one
pension� demand, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was handed a 509-page report
by an expert committee on measures needed to repair relations with serving and
retired soldiers, sailors and airmen.



With civil-military

A hammer blow for the military: it is the biggest loser in the 7th Pay Commission