The Defence Blog

AN-32 Air force Plane goes missing

India Enters MTCR India becomes the 35th member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) this week as the members of the international anti-proliferation grouping agreed to admit India in the regime,  this will burnish India’s credentials for the membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG). Many believe that India’s strategy was to first bag a membership of the other export control regime, MTCR, to make entry into NSG club easier. The ongoing five-nation visit of Modi includes three NSG countries — the US, Switzerland, and Mexico. Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, also making more realistic its aspiration to buy surveillance drones such as the Predator, made by General Atomics. Italy had objected to admitting India but, after an unrelated bilateral dispute was resolved, did not object this time within a 10-day deadline after the group’s chair, the Netherlands, wrote to members suggesting India be welcomed...

Today on my mind, is nothing but the "India-US Defense ties" As US secretary of defence Ashton Carter came to India this week for the 3rd time in his tenure, US-India defence ties have taken another small step towards consolidation. We both finally managed to agree “in principle” on a logistics agreement which is expected to help  both militaries coordinate better. A second pact to improve the sharing of information on commercial shipping, in a move to beef up security on the seas, is also close to realization. Many in India worry that the US wants to make India a junior partner in its regional alliance network, but Carter has given clear indications that he understands Indian concerns. He has been explicit that India was not likely to be an exclusive partner of the US as he suggested “Indians are, like many others, also proud. So they want to do things independently, and they want to do things their own way. They don’t want to do things just with us. They want to do ...

Manufacturing components with an Indian partner for the proposed $700-million initial gun order of 145 M777 howitzers is set to benefit 40 Inidan Defense firms.It is focused on localised defence production. Talk with corporates like L&T, Punj Lloyd, Ordnance Factory Board, Tata Power, Kalyani Group, Mahindra Group and others are ongoing. Emphasis is mainly on State-owned defence public sector undertakings and medium, small, and micro enterprises in the defence arena. This deal will involve technology transfer in India and ensure capability in technical skills.

China leads the world in Secret Military spending, according to a recent report. By Secret Military spending I mean that there is no meaningful details are  released either to the public or parliament. This leads to corruption in China and mistrust in the Asia-Pacific region that could even go on to destabilize the area. Not only this, off-the-books spending in China could be as high as 50% of China’s official defense expenditure which is about $65 billion. To me it was no surprise, but I am happy to know that such news has started to get published. Nations like Russia and China are far more powerful than they would appear just by looking at the numbers, not only because personnel and purchasing are much cheaper in those nations, but because they under-report their defense spending far more than most democratic nations do.

As the news of one of Japan's plans of largest ever defence budget to counter China's reach hit the industry, Japan’s defence ministry has requested its biggest ever budget to bolster its ability to protect outlying islands in response to China’s growing military reach in the region. The ministry has asked for 5.09 trillion yen for the financial year starting in April 2016. If this gets approved, this would be Japan's BIGGEST EVER DEFENCE BUDGET Japan has been anxious about China’s expanding naval reach and hence had been making annual cuts to its defence budget for a decade up to 2013. The rise is also in line with Japan’s more assertive defence policy under the conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe, as he seeks to check Chinese influence and expand the scope of his country’s military. We all know that Japan has not done any build up of its offensive capabilities until 2 years ago. Their only core production in the field of arms has been Stealth Jets. Knowing this ...