Experts Speak
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NSA Talks — that went Kaput
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The Hindi idiom 'Gadhe ko Dho Dho Kar Ghora Nahin Banaya Ja Sakta' (a donkey can't be turned into a horse through repeated washes) fits very aptly to the Pakistani military sponsoring terror. In follow up to the Ufa talks, India had proposed the India-Pakistan NSA level talks on 23-24 August.
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Hacker-quadcopter — new threats emerging
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)As if the threat of terrorist attacks using drones was not enough, a new threat of hacking and cyber attacks through drones has emerged on the horizon.
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Radicals realigning in Af-Pak
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)It is interesting to watch the realignment of radical organizations in the Af-Pak region, not that this has not been happening elsewhere. Pakistan's military of course is adept in such orchestrations with the ISI (100 percent military) linked with some 14 major terrorist organizations globally, particularly of South Asia.
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Defence and Semiconductors
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Unlike the Chalta Hai attitude of its predecessors, it is credit to the present government that concerns have been expressed about security risks posed by the use of imported chips; IC or microchip or a semiconductor...
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New DPP — what should be its contours?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The country, most prominently the private defence manufacturers await the new DPP with baited breath. The 10-member committee appointed by MoD was to submit its report on July 31.
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HUMINT, TECHINT — and national security
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Why India has had dearth of intelligence at all levels was best described by former Joint Director IB, MK Dhar in his book 'Open Secrets — India's intelligence unveiled' published in 2005 wherein he wrote that irrespective of which government was in power, the compete intelligence set up was focused on how to do down...
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Victory at Haji Pir — 50 years gone
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Though many heroic battles were fought during the 1947-1948 Indo-Pak War by Indian troops hastily inducted into J&K...
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Naga Accord – and northeast peace
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The recent peace pact undoubtedly is a welcome initiative by the Modi Government but at present this peace pact is only a framework agreement that lays the ground for further negotiations.
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Gurdaspur Terror Attack — go beyond sterile sabre rattling
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The ease with which Pakistani terrorists struck in Dinanagar in Gurdaspur 10 kms deep inside India is just one more of the hundreds of terror strikes that Pakistan has managed successfully with just using 3-4 of its rabid spawns.
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Army AD — Revalidating Validity?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The DAC recently cleared pending projects worth Rs 30,000 crores including warship combat management systems, artillery bi-modular charge systems, multi-spectrum camouflage nets, and microlights for NCC cadets.
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HeliNa — helicopter version arrives
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)At first glance, the name HeliNa appears synonymous with Helena - the devious Greek queen mother in the ongoing TV serial Chakravarty Ashok Samrat.
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Skill Development and Armed Forces
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)NR Narayan Murthy recently said, "Is there one invention from India that has become a household name in the globe? No such contribution in the last 60 years."
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Permanent Chairman COSC — a myth of toothless wonder
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The media has quoted MoD sources stating on July 21 that the proposal to create the new post of a Permanent Chairman of the COSC was at "an advanced stage of planning" now, albeit the post would have to be ultimately approved...
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Lockheed Martin to Acquire Sikorsky
By Air Marshal B.K. Pandey (Retd)The acquisition of Sikorsky Aircraft will enable Lockheed Martin to access new markets abroad and add value to its portfolio through enhanced sales in the military segment of its business.
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PM's CAR visit — plugging the foreign policy deficit
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)In a recent interview to Rediff.com former NSA Shiv Shankar Menon has accused the Modi government of a western tilt, keeping China and Pakistan guessing and lack of strategic vision.
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Modi-Nawaz Meet — old wine in new bottle
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Trust the media to go berserk anytime PM Modi is likely to meet. So it was expected that when they did meet in Ufa, Russia on the sidelines of the BRICS and SCO summits on July 10, the media went overboard declaring...
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Another Kargil Anniversary — what did we learn?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)July 26 will be another anniversary of the Kargil Conflict, not very different from previous ones albeit few events merit mention: signature campaign on petition by father of Captain Saurabh Kalia's for GoI to take Pakistan...
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ARPAN is good — but what beyond?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)A day after PM Modi launched the Digital India Week, the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar formally launched Army's Arpan 3.0 on July 2. Arpan 3.0 is an autonomous software that the Army is rolling out for its over 11 lakh soldiers...
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Afghanistan — caught in new Great Game
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)President Ashraf Ghani is likely realizing his folly for throwing his lot with Pakistan. Why Ghani believed Pakistan would bring Taliban to the negotiating table when the US failed to do so is intriguing, especially when the Taliban oppose democracy and the Afghan Constitution?
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Indo-Myanmar CT cooperation
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)John Swinton, the former Chief of Staff at the New York Times, called 'The Dean of His Profession', said during his farewell speech in 1953...
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Modi-Nawaz meet in offing — but Outcome?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Media is agog with news of possibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the annual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Russian next month.
