North America & Strategic Technologies

About Centre

The Centre focuses on issues related to strategic technologies that have a potential impact on national security. Its main focus is on critical technologies and space technologies. The Centre is engaged in tracking and trend analysis of issues related to Space Security and Cyber Security. The other mandate of the Centre is to undertake research on Biological and Chemical Weapons with a focus on studying the dangers of proliferation and terrorism. The Centre is responsible for the publication of the CBW Magazine – a bi-annual magazine which covers a wide range of issues related to Chemical and Biological Weapons.

Members:

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Rajiv Kumar Narang Senior Fellow
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Cherian Samuel Research Fellow (SS)
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Rohit Kumar Sharma Research Analyst

Military – Civil Technology Fusion (MCTF) For Making India Atmanirbhar Global Drone Hub@2030

This monograph examines civil and military drone policies, organisational structures, technology development initiatives, ecosystems, strengths, challenges, and proposes a way forward. It recommends formulating a civil drone atmanirbharta policy, designating nodal ministry of drone technology, creating organisational structures for civil drone R&D, launching civil drone technology development initiatives and instituting course corrections in defence UAV development programs.

Leveraging Cyber Power: A Study of the Approaches and Responses of the Major Powers

The monograph looks at how major powers have tried to pursue three objectives in cyberspace, viz. (1) strengthening or enhancing national cyber defences, and (2) striving to shape the international cyber environment by leveraging economic and technological capabilities, and (3) through defining and evangelising international cyber norms. A section on the cybersecurity preparedness of the countries of the South Asian region is incorporated to highlight those vulnerabilities and deficient capacities and capabilities that give the major powers a foothold to pursue their objectives.

Quantum Technologies and Military Strategy

  • Publisher: Springer
This book is about the strategic relevance of quantum technologies. It debates the military-specific aspects of this technology. Various chapters of this book cohere around two specific themes. The first theme discusses the global pattern of ongoing civilian and military research on quantum computers, quantum cryptography, quantum communications and quantum internet. The second theme explicitly identifies the relevance of these technologies in the military domain and the possible nature of quantum technology-based weapons. This thread further debates on quantum (arms) race at a global level in general, and in the context of the USA and China, in particular. The book argues that the defence utility of these technologies is increasingly becoming obvious and is likely to change the nature of warfare in the future.
  • ISBN: 978-3-030-72720-8 ,
  • Price: EUR 89.99

Institutions That Shaped Modern India: ISRO

  • Publisher: Rupa
An introduction to ISRO, the organization that took India to space.

The end of colonial rule was an important milestone worth celebrating, but what lay ahead was a long journey towards the making of modern India. The narrative of ‘modern India’ would be incomplete without the stories of institutions that helped shape India as we know it today.

This volume, part of a series on Institutions that Shaped Modern India, offers an in-depth introduction to one such institution—the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It tells the story of ISRO from its inception to present times. Capturing its history and its evolution, dotted with several achievements and some setbacks,  and offering deep insights into ISRO’s key projects—past, present and future—the book  is an ode to an institution that has been at the steering wheel of India’s journey into space and has played a seminal role in nation-building.

  • ISBN: 978-93-90356-56-0,
  • Price: ₹. 395/-

Navigating the Indian Cyberspace Maze: Guide for Policymakers

  • Publisher: KW Publishers
Cyberspace has turned out to be one of the greatest discoveries of mankind. Today, we have more than four and a half billion people connected to the internet and this number is all set to increase dramatically as the next generational Internet of Things (IoT) devices and 5G technology gets fully rolled out.

India has been at the forefront of this amazing digital revolution and is a major stakeholder in the global cyberspace eco system. As the world embarks on embracing internet 2.0 characterised by 5G high speed wireless interconnect, generation of vast quantities of data and domination of transformational technologies of Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain and Big Data, India has been presented with a unique opportunity to leapfrog from a developing country to a developed knowledge based nation in a matter of years and not decades.

This book presents an exciting and fascinating journey into the world of cyberspace with focus on the impactful technologies of AI, block chain and Big Data analysis coupled with an appraisal of the India cyberspace eco system. It has been written especially for a policy maker in order to provide a helicopter overview of the cyberspace domain in adequate detail in simple and understandable language.

  • ISBN: 978-93-89137-47-7 ,
  • Price: ₹.1280/-
  • E-copy available

The Road to 5G: Technology, Politics And Beyond

This monograph examines the key technologies behind 5G, the requirements of infrastructure and spectrum, and the emerging landscape with the rise of Chinese telecommunication equipment manufactures. It delves into China’s rise as a key technology provider in the telecommunications sector, and a prime contributor to standards development.

Disruptive Technologies for the Militaries and Security

  • Publisher: Springer, Singapore
This book debates and discusses the present and future of Disruptive Technologies in general and military Disruptive Technologies in particular. Its primary goal is to discuss various critical and advanced elucidations on strategic technologies. The focus is less on extrapolating the future of technology in a strict sense, and more on understanding the Disruptive Technology paradigm. It is widely accepted that technology alone cannot win any military campaign or war. However, technological superiority always offers militaries an advantage. More importantly, technology also has a great deterrent value. Hence, on occasion, technology can help to avoid wars. Accordingly, it is important to effectively manage new technologies by identifying their strategic utility and role in existing military architectures and the possible contributions they could make towards improving overall military capabilities. This can also entail doctrinal changes, so as to translate these new technologies into concrete advantages.
  • ISBN: E-book-978-981-13-3384-2, Hardcopy-978-981-13-3383-5
  • Price: E-book- € 118.99, Hardcover- € 139,99

India’s Strategic Options in a Changing Cyberspace

  • Publisher: Pentagon Press
The book is structured to perform a role both as a primer to those who wish to understand the strategic issues and key concepts in cyberspace, as well as to provide sufficient pointers to those who wish to have an in-depth understanding on specific issues.

Among the major issues examined are the efficacy of the concept of cyber deterrence, the troubled history of norm-making in cyberspace, protecting critical infrastructure from crippling cyber attacks, the viability of Active Cyber Defence as a means of responding to the sheer scale of attacks, and its attendant legal and ethical issues. Emerging technologies and their potential impact on an already dynamic domain are also the subject to scrutiny, as also the various models of public-Private Partnership in cybersecurity around the world.

  • ISBN: 978-93-86618-66-5,
  • Price: ₹.746/-
  • E-copy available

Fifty Years of the Outer Space Treaty: Tracing the Journey

  • Publisher: Pentagon Press

Developments in the outer space arena post the erstwhile USSR launching the first man-made satellite Sputnik in space on 4 October 1957 have transformed the world significantly. In order to ensure the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was set up by the United Nations General Assembly in 1959.

  • ISBN 978-81-8274-948-1,
  • Price: ₹. 995
  • E-copy available

Biological Weapons: Coronavirus, Weapon of Mass Destruction? by U.C. Jha and K. Ratnabali

War, when all else fails. The reasons for war could be ideological or for greater control over finite resources but war invariably has violence at its epicentre. Ethics and wars have rarely been concentric in human history; therefore, wars have seen the employment of all possible means. Victory, as the ultimate aim, has forced warring sides to look at multiple options and biological weapons are one such method. Biological weapons are as old as war itself and their primitive recorded use was centuries ago.

भारतीय विमानन/ड्रोन तकनीशियन प्रमाणन नीति और सुधार की संभावनाएं

भारतीय विमानन टेक्नीशियन प्रमाणन नीति एवं ड्रोन टेक्नीशियन प्रमाणन नीति को वैश्विक चलन के अनुरूप सुधार करते हुए तर्कसंगत एवं व्यावहारिक बनाने की आवश्यकता है ताकि भारत में कुशल ड्रोन टेक्नीशियन उत्पन्न करने के साथ-साथ अग्निवीरों के लिए भी रोजगार के नए अवसर सृजित किए जा सकें|