Is the French 4th+generation fighter aircraft doomed? This question must be anguishing people in Dassault and the French government. The Rafale has not won any contract in the export market since its entry into service in 2004 and is now apparently out of race for the MMRCA contract. What lies behind all these repeated commercial fiascos? The Rafale lost five major bids against its US counterparts in recent years: in South Korea (2002), Singapore (2005), Saudi Arabia (2007), Morocco (2007) and apparently India.

• Guillem Monsonis
• May 14, 2009
• IDSA Comments

April 29 marked the first 100 days of the presidency of Barack Obama. Urgency, pragmatism and engagement have marked his method of tackling the enormous challenges bequeathed to him by the previous administration. Complimenting this three-pronged approach in dealing with inherited challenges, the Obama administration has also initiated major policy moves with ambitious agendas encompassing a triad of issues - nuclear disarmament, energy independence and climate change.

• S. Samuel C. Rajiv
• May 01, 2009
• IDSA Comments

There is a case for terminating any nuclear exchange at the lowest level possible and the nuclear doctrine needs to reflect this. A review of the doctrine a decade after it was first expounded is in order.

• Ali Ahmed
• April 24, 2009
• Policy Brief

Pakistan’s counter-terrorism performance has received much attention. However, the United States’ capacity to sustain the ‘War on Terror’ needs greater attention, because Washington is the principal state leading the global fight against terrorism. Defeating and routing Al Qaeda was the core objective of the United States following the September 11 attacks, according to former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) counterterrorism expert Paul Pillar. Washington was prepared to live with the extremist Taliban if its leadership snapped ties and handed over the top leadership of Al Qaeda.

• Kartik Bommakanti
• April 13, 2009
• IDSA Comments

As the new government headed by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu takes charge in Jerusalem, it seems that there are no easy solutions to what Israel perceives to be its central strategic question – how to effectively stop the Iranian nuclear quest. Israel’s leaders across the political spectrum have long maintained that a nuclear capable Iran, coupled with the rhetoric against Israel emanating from Tehran and its help to groups like the Hezbollah and the Hamas, constitutes an existential threat.

• S. Samuel C. Rajiv
• April 08, 2009
• IDSA Comments

The Alliance is facing a challenge in Afghanistan operationally and the issue of coherence organisationally.

• Alok Rashmi Mukhopadhyay
• April 02, 2009
• Special Feature

An amicable resolution of issues between America and Europe on addressing the Afghan quagmire is unlikely given that the end state is not clearly defined.

• Shanthie Mariet D’Souza
• April 02, 2009
• Special Feature

The related issues of H1B visas and outsourcing have once again come to the fore and could prove to be a troublesome issue in India-US relations. In his address to the Joint Houses of Congress on February 24, 2009, President Obama declared that he would nullify tax benefits for American companies that outsourced their services. The same day, the US Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) released data showing that four Indian outsourcing companies, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, and TCS, accounted for more than 10,000 of the 65,000 H-1B visas issued by the US in 2008.

• Cherian Samuel
• March 03, 2009
• IDSA Comments

Though anticipated, the timing of the Islamabad High Court’s verdict to release disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan from house arrest has surprised many, since it came days before the first ever visit by Richard Holbrooke, President Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Zardari government has tried to play safe by citing this as a decision taken by an ‘independent’ judiciary. Such arguments are, however, unlikely to find many takers.

• A. Vinod Kumar
• February 20, 2009
• IDSA Comments

In early January 2009, the Financial Times reported “preliminary talks” between US and India on possible sale of systems for an Indian ballistic missile defence (BMD) shield. The daily quoted US embassy officials in New Delhi as saying that technical talks had taken place and that US defence officials had conducted computer simulations with Indian counterparts to demonstrate the capabilities of this technology. The Indian media, and some foreign ones, picked up the story and projected the report as an impending US-India deal on missile defence cooperation.

• A. Vinod Kumar
• January 30, 2009
• IDSA Comments