Gunners Shot

At the outset I must confess that I have used the old dictum that a picture conveys a thousand words.  Hence there is not much reading to do.  Happy theaterisation! Having had the privilege and the good fortune of  serving along almost of our borders including most parts of the LAC, some parts of the LOC and significant parts of our International Borders, I have been thinking as to how will theatres and joint commands shape up in future. I have conceptualized them in these maps. I have left a lot unsaid. In my opinion the fact that India needs to have a single theatre facing China and Pakistan each is no brainer. Also, a single theatre to handle the IOR is pretty much obvious. The debatable point is that will it need a fourth Theatre? In my opinion it needs a Reserve Theatre which will anchor the other Theatres. In effect it will be India’s strategic reserve. Anyone who understands warfare will also understand that Reserves indicate the true play and stamina ...

The feedback I got on the article ‘ 1/3rd Fauji Retirement at 58 '   [1] was illuminating and educative. It brought forth some fundamental issues which are relevant and must be considered before a case is taken up to increase the age of retirement of 1/3 rd of the Armed Forces to 58. However, there are issues beyond that. That is what this is all about.  The ‘Alice in Wonderland’ view of increasing retirement ages is very currently visible through the Assam Rifles prism. An officer who did three tenures in Assam Rifles and was an IGAR (equivalent to the GOC of a Division) mentioned that he had tossed around the issues thrown up in this debate. He highlighted that retirement age for troops in AR is 60. Once men cross 40-45 years of age, a very large number of them become medically unfit. To put things in perspective, on an average, each AR bn has around 120 Low Medical Categories as per him. That is a company plus strength! Resultantly, they have many non-op causalit...

India Today says that as per General Bipin Rawat , the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the rise in budget outlay for pensions of armed forces personnel is "unsustainable" and three Services are conducting a study to analyse the feasibility of extending the retirement age of jawans till 58. The CDS is quoted to have said “I think one-third of the Indian Army can go till 58. Today, you are sending a chap home at 38, and he lives till around 70. So, for 17 years of service, you give 30-32 years of pension. Why not give him 38 years of service and then give him 20 years of pension? We are reversing the trend [1] ". I am sure he made a very considered statement. There have been many reactions from veterans and experts of high standing. The focus has been on the dangers of greying and ageing Armed Forces. Well they have a huge point and cannot be wished away. However, let us discount this factor for the present. Even then, if one were to adopt the proposal of the CDS, t...

original article @ Raksha Anirveda                                 There is a lot of discussion and action on Artificial Intelligence and other disruptive technologies and how they will impact warfare . The Chinese White Paper on defense at the very outset mentions that the application of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information, big data, cloud computing and the Internet of Things is gathering pace in the military field. Obviously, they are going to bet big on these subjects.  On 01 Feb 19, USA activated an AI Task Force as a part of the Army Futures Command. The AI task force is to be based at Carnegie Mellon University. It aims to harness breakthroughs in AI and apply them to a range of Army Operations. These operations are varied and ranging from Talent Management in Human Resources, Predictive Maintenance of equipment and extend to support in p...

Authors Note My articles Modernising Armed Forces on Tight Budgets and Modernising Armed Forces on Contracting Budgets  evoked good response. Lot of constructive suggestions. However, I get the feeling from feedback received, that pruning down forces is fraught with risk. Yes of course. There is risk. There is risk even when you cross a road. However, life is all about analyzing risk to see if it can be marginalized to manageable proportions. So, what is the assessed and analyzed military threat from China? Is it a Million Dollar Question? No. The military threat from China can be quantified and assessed realistically. That is what I  did in this article which I wrote it two and a half years.When I wrote it I got some good feedback. However out of the blue, I got an email from one of the most respected military personalities I have known. He said that he enjoyed reading this article. That is when I realized that I had done something beyond me without even ...

                                     BITE THE BULLET BOYS TIME TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT Smell the Anasthesia As per Economic Times,  the outlay for defense in the budget has been hiked by 5.8 % over the last year’s budget outlay. It is an increase of 1.9% over the revised estimates. In actual or real inflated adjusted terms, it is a contraction. ‘ It is one of the least allocations since 60s’. ‘In an environment of growing threat from our adversaries, this is grossly insufficient’. ‘We need more for our 5 tn dollar economy’ .   This is what all defense analysts, veterans, and media will say as part of their analysis tomorrow onward. already there is such an article in Financial express. The Services will cry from hell to high water. They will however continue to face smaller outlays. They must reinvent themselves to do more with less as per a well thought out plan. ...