Gunners Shot

Part 1 : Preamble   @   https://www.gunnersshot.com/2021/10/firepower-and-artillery-futuristic.html   Part 2 : Effects on Firepower in the Himalayas   @  https://www.gunnersshot.com/2021/10/fire-power-and-artillery-futuristic.html   Part 3 : Chinese Operational Concepts and Employment of Firepowe r   @  https ://www.gunnersshot.com/2021/11/fire-power-and-artillery- futuristic.html   Part 4: Fire & Move and Historical Evolution of Firepower      @   https://www.gunnersshot.com/2021/11/firepower-and-artillery-futuristic.html   In the  previous part I had outlined the shifting balance between ‘Fire and Manoeuvre’ in our battlefield environment and traced the historical evolution of firepower in the Indian context. Before I get down to examine the operational employment and the key tenets of firepower in the Indian Context, it is necessary to examine a popular perception. The perception is that dumb artillery shells are passe and precision is the only game in town. Nothing can be furth

Background   All great nations have gone through a process of Civil- Military fusion. The industrial revolution and the colonial era is a story of Civil-Military fusion in Europe. Inventiveness in science and technology focussed on how it could make colonial militaries better equipped, lethal and more efficient. Each colonial power wanted a military machine which could dominate others in order to  expand their empires. In the last century, USA went through a process of intense civil- military fusion during the second world war. At its height, USA was producing military aircraft by the hour, tanks by the day and warships by the week or even less. The entire American industry focussed on churning out military equipment which could beat the Germans and Japanese qualitatively and quantitatively. They did it successfully. The mighty military - industrial complex of USA,  which drives its economy, is all about a military- civil system, fused together seamlessly. USA did this a century ago.  

I had a very interesting conversation with Amitabh Revi on StratNews Global's program - The Gist. We discussed various issues pertaining to the S400 to cover a range of views and took on questions from technical to the geopolitical. I just enjoyed each moment of the conversation on this contemporary topic. Hope you do too.    

The  2 nd  edition of ‘The Economic Times Aerospace and Defence Summit 2021 (ET ADS 2021)  took place on 16 th  November 2021.   The Summit 2021 brought together industry experts on one platform to deliberate on the growth opportunities while dealing successfully with the challenges.  It was my honour that I took part in the Summit as a guest speaker in a panel which covered panoramic  aspects of important  policies, plans and challenges at national level. the discussion was interesting and  many important issues came up. The recording of the discussion is placed above.  A request was put forth to me to put it on the net for a wider audience to see it at their leisure. A view from Australia was - " Sir fantastic session and some deep insights on Atmanirbharta SWOT analysis. Realistically got the nail on the head that India needs to decide what's to outsource globally and what's best to manufacture domestically. Even F35 has components from over 40 countries allied to US wi

The Belt and Road Initiative was all over the news a couple of years back. It seemed to be the only game in town. It was touted to be the instrument that will propel China to superpower status. However as time passed, the concept got into problems in the execution phase. The term debt trap is now almost  synonymous with the BRI. In any case the principle of debt trapping came to light through  BRI deals going sour. Naturally, the Chinese have caught flak due to their usurious financial deals. Amidst all this the corona struck and paralysed progress on BRI projects for a variety of reasons. Today, BRI hardly finds mention in a newspaper in any significant manner. Most of the projects are languishing despite all the propaganda of its success by China.  Some are cancelled, many are scaled down and many countries want to renegotiate terms with China. In this episode, Aadi and I discuss various aspects pertaining to the BRI.   

Today, the book  Force in Statecraft, An Indian Perspective  was released in the National Defence College, New Delhi. The book has chapters on various aspects of utilizing ‘Force’ as an instrument of national power. The panorama is vast and covers various aspects from nuclear to conventional to less than conventional operations in the land air and sea domains. The book  relates to application of force, impact, and outcomes in the Indian context. The chapters have been written by eminent personalities who have made a mark in military thinking in India. I was fortunate to be asked to write a chapter on ‘Firepower in the Indian Context’. It was indeed a matter of honor that my contribution was accepted and published. I would urge all those who are interested in  military affairs to read this book.      A few days back I started this series of articles on Artillery and Firepower: A Future Perspective.  In the previous parts I had examined the effects of firepower in the Himalayas and vice