Experts Speak
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April 4, 2018
Hoax call of integrated theatre commands
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Headlines like 'Govt moves on integrated theatre commands; amends rules to bring three forces under single leadership' appearing in the media on March 19, 2018, caused considerable excitement in the public domain.
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April 4, 2018
The bogey of 'Bajwa Doctrine'
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The Bajwa Doctrine was first mentioned by Asif Ghafoor, DG ISPR and later by Qamar Javed Bajwa, army chief himself while briefing a group of journalists and anchorpersons, but it is not documented as such.
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March 15, 2018
20 Years of Indo-French partnership and Macron’s India visit
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)France was the first country in the world with which India signed a strategic partnership in 1998; between French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Indian space scientists received initial training in France after Pokhran-II, France recognizing India as responsible nation while balance West blocked out India.
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March 15, 2018
Visit of Vietnam President boosts India-Vietnam strategic partnership
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The three day visit (March 2-4) this year by Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang’s was testament to the growing closeness in the bilateral security ties between India and Vietnam. His visit came just few weeks after Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to India as chief guest at India’s Republic Day Parade 2016 along with heads of states of all other ASEAN countries.
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March 15, 2018
Indo-US 2-by-2 dialogue
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Post US President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2017, congratulating him on India’s 71st Independence Day, the White House announced that India and US will start a new 2-by-2 ministerial dialogue to enhance “peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific region...
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March 15, 2018
MoD shown the mirror
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)In end February 2018, public become aware that MoD for once was shown the mirror to recognize its ugly face. According to media reports, MoD had deduced internally that the much publicized ‘Make in India’ initiative is floundering...
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March 15, 2018
Pakistan in FATF crosshairs
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Pakistan find itself in the crosshairs of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to combat to ‘combat money laundering and terrorism financing’. It is an intergovernmental organization, also known as Groupe d'action financière, with its secretariat housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
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March 5, 2018
Rouhani’s visit boosts Indo-Iranian construct
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived at Hyderabad on February 15, 2018, visited Hyderabad for two days and arrived New Delhi on February 17.
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March 5, 2018
Aura to fly in 2018
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Our military’s requirement of UAVs has suffered past several years because of lack of industrial expertise, combined with delays and cost overruns.
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March 5, 2018
ICV procurement approved
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)On January 20, 2018, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cleared the proposal for procurement of 156 infantry combat vehicles (ICVs) to meet the requirement of the mechanized infantry and troops for rapid deployment.
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February 19, 2018
PM Modi’s West Asian outreach
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Palestine, the UAE and Oman, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, while briefing media had outlined that the visit would be of strategic importance in terms of energy and security...
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February 19, 2018
Mujahids to fuel Indo-Pak border more?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)As per recent reports, Pakistan is deploying several battalions of its Mujahid Regiment, along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) to infiltrate terrorists and target Indian security forces. According to intelligence sources, these Mujahid battalions are 641, 647, 654 and 655.
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February 19, 2018
JeM attacks rouse MoD
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Continuing terrorist attacks, especially the recent ISI-backed JeM terrorist attack of Sunjwan Army Camp in Jammu appears to have roused the MoD into action. The Ministry okayed 1,487 cr to boost the security of Army camps on Saturday, February 12 - same day as the terrorist attack on Sunjwan Army Camp...
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February 19, 2018
Terrorist attack on Sunjwan military camp
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)On February 10, 2018, the army camp at Sunjwan in Jammu was attacked by JeM terrorists in early hours of the morning. Sneaking in, the terrorists entered family quarters of Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and firing began at 5 AM. The encounter continued over three days resulting in the death of five army personnel including two JCOs, and seven injured including civilians. Three terrorists were killed.
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February 19, 2018
The Faux Pas in Maldives
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The strategic importance of Maldives to India needs no emphasis; located in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives archipelago comprising 1,200 coral islands lies next to key shipping lanes which ensure uninterrupted energy supplies to countries like China, Japan and India. But happenings in the recent past indicate, Maldives has been sucked into the gravitational pull of China, away from India, just like Nepal.
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February 19, 2018
Perimeter security of military establishments
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Post the terrorist attack on IAF’s Patahnkot airbase on January 2, 2016, the MoD had appointed a committee headed by Lt Gen Phillip Campose, then Vice Chief of Army Staff, to review the security set-up for the military bases and suggest ways to improve it. The Committee found gaping holes in the security set up of many installations and submitted its report to the then Defence Minister in May 2016.
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February 6, 2018
Our views of Defence Budget 2018-19Lt General V K Kapoor (Retd), Editor - SP’s Land Forces
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February 5, 2018
Indo-ASEAN relations – Get strategic boost
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Republic Day 2018 was unique and very special with 10 leaders of ASEAN nations gracing the occasion with ASEAN completing 50 years of its formation and India completing 25 years of India-ASEAN partnership that commenced in 1992.
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February 5, 2018
Artificial Intelligence in Defence
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The next level of strategic cooperation between India and Japan has become apparent with the news that India and Japan are to work together to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics in the defence sector.
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February 5, 2018
ISIS caboodle – Headed which way?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Call it ISIS, ISIL or Islamic State, the organization continues to maintain the top spot as the most dangerous terrorist organization of the world. Over 40 militant groups alleged allegiance to ISIS. These include the Boko Haram of Nigeria and the Tehrik-i-Talban (TTP) of Pakistan ranked the 4 and 6 respectively in the global ranking of the most dangerous terrorist organizations.
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February 5, 2018
India in Australia Group – Looking at NSG
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)January 19, 2018 saw India becoming a member of the Australia Group. The Australia Group restricts trade in materials used to make chemical and biological weapons.
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February 5, 2018
Coming – Long range BrahMos
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)When India successfully test-fired its nuclear capable Agni-V ICBM on January 18 this year, China had made no official statement, but after the December 2016 Agni-V test China had stated it hoped India's testing of the nuclear-capable Agni-V ICBM...
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February 3, 2018
Defence Budget 2018-2019
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Defence Budget for 2018-2019 stands at 2,96,511.41 cr (1.58 per cent of GDP).
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January 24, 2018
Strategic development of Chabahar Port – And its implications
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The trilateral engagement between India, Iran and Afghanistan during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Iran in May 2016 expanded avenues of trade...
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January 24, 2018
India enters Wassenaar Arrangement
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)India was admitted to the Wassenaar Arrangement on December 8, 2017. Following completion of internal procedures for joining the Arrangement...
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January 19, 2018
Visit of Israeli Prime Minister
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's six-day visit to India has very smoothly taken India-Israel relations to the next level.
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January 19, 2018
Agni V raises Chinese concerns
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)India successfully has test-fired its nuclear capable Agni-V ICBM from the Abdul Kalam island, off the coast of Odisha, on January 18. This 17m long ICBM with a payload of 1.5 tons, can transport a fusion-boosted fission weapon - nuclear device.
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January 19, 2018
China's aggressive moves – Will persist
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Army Chief General Bipin Rawat stated on January 12, 2018 that focus of the Army will shift to the country's border in the north as opposed to the long-standing focus on the western border.
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January 19, 2018
Assault Rifles, Carbines coming
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)On January 16, 2018 the defence acquisitin council (DAC) headed by the Defence Minister, has cleared fast-track procurement of 72,400 assault rifles and 93,850 carbines for 3,547 cr from the global market.
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January 19, 2018
ISRO's centurion leap
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)ISRO launched its 100th satellite in space on January 12, 2018 as its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40) successfully placed 31 satellites in two different orbits in one of the longest missions.
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January 19, 2018
China's military base in Maldives
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)An article in the China Daily during 2014 stated China plans to build 18 "Strategic Support Bases" in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), outlining a blueprint for the establishment of 18 Chinese "Overseas Strategic Support Bases" like in Djibouti, Aden, Salalah, Seychelles, Gwadar in Pakistan etc.
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January 16, 2018
“Sentiments from a General at the occasion of Army Day”Lt General V K Kapoor (Retd), Editor - SP’s Land Forces
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January 10, 2018
Foreclosure of Army's Battlefield Management System
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)As per news reports of early December 2017, the MoD and the Army were looking at closing down the Battlefield Management System, despite its prototypes being developed by two Indian consortiums.
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January 9, 2018
Trump Twitter-bombs Pakistan
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The dawn of New Year in Pakistan was twitter-bombed by US President Donald Trump accusing Pakistan of double-dealing by saying, "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools.
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January 9, 2018
AAD Interceptor Missile — Assisting BMD
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)India successfully tested its AAD (Advanced Area Defence) Interceptor Missile on December 28, 2017 by successfully intercepting an incoming ballistic missile.
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January 9, 2018
Advance Base Workshops — MoD takes control
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The government-appointed Committee of Experts (CoE) on "Enhancing Combat Capability and Rebalancing Defence Expenditure of the Armed Forces", headed by Lt Gen D B Shekatkar, had submitted its report to the Defence Minister on December 21, 2016.
