Military Affairs

About Centre

The Centre for Military Affairs comprises of a mix of serving officers of the Indian Armed Forces and civilian experts. The Centre adopts an inter-disciplinary approach to various issues that impinge upon India’s national security in general and the armed forces in particular. Its research focus is on issues that impact upon national security and capacity-building of the Indian armed forces. Specific areas of focus include: emerging contemporary challenges in warfare, jointness, defence co-operation, maritime security, and military training needs. In addition, the Centre also addresses China- and Pakistan-related issues with a bearing on their interface with Indian security. The Centre closely interacts with military establishments in India and abroad and contributes to policy making by conducting research in areas of significance for the armed forces.

Army ‘Transformation’: A ‘Radical’ One?

A shift in strategic thinking over the past two decades has now led to India being poised between the strategic doctrines of offensive and defensive realism.

Ali Ahmed
January 17, 2011
IDSA Comments

The advantages of ‘Cold Start Minor’

Workable options short of war, as ‘Cold Start Minor’ suggests, would serve as deterrent to informed by the logic of leaving something to chance.

Ali Ahmed
December 13, 2010
IDSA Comments

Professional Military Education: The First Steps in the Indian Context

Human resources will remain a critical element to any professional military education system and this entails careful selection of the senior leadership, faculty, and managerial staff.

Harinder Singh
November 30, 2010
Issue Brief

Obama’s AfPak Review should emphasise on Peace Talks with the Taliban

The US needs to take direct charge of the peace talks prong of strategy to meet the mid-2011 deadline of beginning its troops withdrawal as well as to enable NATO departure by 2014.

Ali Ahmed
November 23, 2010
IDSA Comments

Cold Start as Deterrence against Proxy War

As long as the sub-conventional deterrence holds, the enunciation of the Cold Start doctrine actually introduces a degree of strategic stability in the region.

Sushant Sareen
November 22, 2010
IDSA Comments

China Air Show-Zhuhai 16 November 2010

Thousands of aviation enthusiasts and professionals are bound to throng to Zhuhai on 16 November, but one wonders if Indian aviation companies and other SMEs would send their delegations or sell their wares at the show.

Ramesh Phadke
November 11, 2010
IDSA Comments

The Third Front: Military Ethics

The current predicament the Military finds itself in can be used constructively by the Services and the government for undertaking the necessary correctives with a sense of urgency and obligation.

Ali Ahmed
November 04, 2010
IDSA Comments

Probity in the Armed Forces

People in India have traditionally looked up to the Armed Forces. Corruption in the Armed Forces therefore militates against the spirit of service to the nation. It has to be cleansed wholesale, with effective mechanisms for protecting whistleblowers and taking swift action against the guilty put in place. Caesar’s wife must be beyond reproach.

Rumel Dahiya
November 01, 2010
IDSA Comments

Clarifying India’s Strategic Doctrine

Non-articulation of India's strategic doctrine lends it to be interpreted and perceived variously. India's security establishment need not be defensive about its strategic doctrine but boldly take on critics in the strategic community. Besides, its articulation would help provide direction to the military in their formulation of military doctrine, planning and acquisitions.

Ali Ahmed
October 25, 2010
IDSA Comments

The ‘Cold Start and Stop’ strategy

The strategy helps sensitise Pakistan to India’s tolerance threshold and reinforces deterrence by bringing home unambiguously to Pakistan that things could get out of hand.