DRDO National Asset But Needs Smart Changes

India’s premier defence research body — the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)—which was set up over 60 years ago needs to change the way it operates. That’s what a committee headed by K. VijayRaghavan, former principal scientific advisor to the government, has recommended. So what is wrong with DRDO and what changes has the committee recommended?

Amid Push For Self-Reliance In Defence, HAL's Stock Rises

Recently, the defence ministry signed a contract of over ₹8,000 crore with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for acquisition of 24 Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) Dhruv Mark III for the Indian Army and the Coast Guard. It demonstrates another significant push in the government's quest for self-reliance in defence. It also shows renewed confidence in the capabilities of HAL which is also making the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mark IA. In this episode of 'Simply Nitin', which comes to you from a HAL facility in Bengaluru, StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale talks about how the public sector major has ramped up its capabilities and what its forward plans are.

AMCA : India's 5th Gen Fighter

India’s CCS on March 7 approved the project to design and develop the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft more popularly known as AMCA as a fifth-generation, medium-weight low observable fighter jet. To be designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) that functions as a Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) arm, the government has allocated Rs 15,000 crore as initial funding with more money to be provided as and when required.

The aircraft will propel India into a select group of nations that have or are developing 5th generation fighter jets, based on futuristic technology in partnership with various private and public sector agencies.

What Sets Assam Rifles Apart From Other Paramilitary Forces

Assam Rifles is India’s oldest paramilitary force, which was set up as ‘Cachar Levy’ in 1835 by the British, to defend their commercial interests flowing from the tea gardens in India’s North East. Since then, its role and sphere of operations have undergone a sea change. In this episode of Simply Nitin, StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale tracks the journey of what, in the purest definition of the term, is India’s only paramilitary force.

India & Pakistan Drew Different Lessons From Balakot

We look back at a groundbreaking event: India’s strike five years ago on a jihadi camp in Balakot, in Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was in retaliation for the attack on Feb 2019 in Pulwama J&K, on a bus carrying CRPF personnel in which 40 were killed.

The lessons learnt are important here. For India, it was proof that there existed a window between a full conventional response and nuclear retaliation. India demonstrated its ability to strike a terrorist target with no collateral damage to civilians. The strike involved the use of precision, standoff weapons.

This is the paradigm for India, a far cry from its non-response following the attack on Parliament in Dec. 2001 by five gunmen, or the 26/11 attack in Mumbai by Pakistani gunmen.

Pakistan claimed that the Balakot strike underscored the point that India did not escalate since it was deterred by its nuclear weapons.

00:00 - DRDO National Asset But Needs Smart Changes
20:22 - Amid Push For Self-Reliance In Defence, HAL's Stock Rises
31:15 - AMCA: India's 5th Gen Fighter
50:53 - What Sets Assam Rifles Apart From Other Paramilitary Forces
1:06:02 - India & Pakistan Drew Different Lessons From Balakot