Experts Speak
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January 19, 2018
China's military base in Maldives
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)An article in the China Daily during 2014 stated China plans to build 18 "Strategic Support Bases" in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), outlining a blueprint for the establishment of 18 Chinese "Overseas Strategic Support Bases" like in Djibouti, Aden, Salalah, Seychelles, Gwadar in Pakistan etc.
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January 16, 2018
“Sentiments from a General at the occasion of Army Day”Lt General V K Kapoor (Retd), Editor - SP’s Land Forces
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January 10, 2018
Foreclosure of Army's Battlefield Management System
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)As per news reports of early December 2017, the MoD and the Army were looking at closing down the Battlefield Management System, despite its prototypes being developed by two Indian consortiums.
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January 9, 2018
Trump Twitter-bombs Pakistan
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The dawn of New Year in Pakistan was twitter-bombed by US President Donald Trump accusing Pakistan of double-dealing by saying, "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools.
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January 9, 2018
AAD Interceptor Missile — Assisting BMD
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)India successfully tested its AAD (Advanced Area Defence) Interceptor Missile on December 28, 2017 by successfully intercepting an incoming ballistic missile.
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January 9, 2018
Advance Base Workshops — MoD takes control
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The government-appointed Committee of Experts (CoE) on "Enhancing Combat Capability and Rebalancing Defence Expenditure of the Armed Forces", headed by Lt Gen D B Shekatkar, had submitted its report to the Defence Minister on December 21, 2016.
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January 9, 2018
Neglecting welfare — Affecting soldier's morale
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)A recent editorial in a national daily titled 'An Unhappy Army' states that unflattering information on the internal "atmosphere" in the armed services is seldom made public: the bad-for-morale argument serves to keep things under wraps.
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January 9, 2018
Jiwani PLA base — Major strategic gain for China
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)According to a recent report in The Washington Times, China is constructing its second overseas military base in Pakistan at Jiwani in the Gulf of Oman, as part of a push for greater power projection capabilities along strategic sea routes.
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January 9, 2018
Defence Budget 2018-2019 — Another negative in actual terms?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Defence Budget 2018-2019 is to be unveiled shortly. What will be allocated to the Armed Forces is awaited with trepidation considering successive defence budgets...
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January 8, 2018
Visit of Israeli Prime Minister — Expectations
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit India commencing January 14 next year. Though the detailed visit program has not been made public, tentatively Netanyahu will be received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ahmedabad on January 14, attend official meeting in New Delhi...
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January 8, 2018
The faux pas of counter Maoist operations
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)As per new reports of end November 2017, some 155 Maoists have been killed in the Dandakaranya region by security forces during 2017. This figure quotes the statement released by the Maoists' south sub zonal bureau just before the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) week commencing December 2...
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January 8, 2018
The drone crash — And beyond
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)China went wild with accusations when an Indian drone recently crashed in China occupied Tibet in first week December 2017, days before the visit to India by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
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January 8, 2018
Army’s Battlefield Management System — Dumped?
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The news about Army having foreclosed the Battlefield Management System (BMS) is appalling, especially when BMS were being developed by two Indian consortiums. Army reportedly took the step due to high costs.
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January 8, 2018
CPEC glitches temporary — But violence to continue
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)First signs of hiccups in the nearly $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, inked during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Pakistan in April 2015...
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January 8, 2018
The 3D Revolution
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)From 1984, when Chuck Hall of 3D Systems Corporation developed the first working 3D printer, the 3D industry has progressed at an unbelievable pace.
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December 11, 2017
Trump’s Af-Pak policy and India’s role in it
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)US President Donald Trump’s televised speech unveiling his new Af-Pak policy directly nailed Pakistan in sponsoring terrorism, exposing Pakistan’s double game. As of October 18, 2016, total US military casualties in Afghanistan were 2,386 killed and 20,049 wounded, in addition to 1,173 civilian contractor fatalities.
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December 11, 2017
India’s Border Control — Lopsided in extreme
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)According to the Department of Border Management, Ministry of Home Affairs, India has total of 15106.7 km of land border with neighbouring countries: 3,323 km with Pakistan; 106 km with Afghanistan; 3,488 km with China; 1,751 km with Nepal; 699 km with Bhutan; 1,643 km with Myanmar, and; 4,096 km with Bangladesh.
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December 11, 2017
Beyond Maoist attack in Sukma
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The ghastly ambush by Maoists at Sukma on April 24 killed 25 CRPF personnel killed and wounded some. While the heart goes out to the bereaved families, serious introspection is required as apparently we have failed to learn any lessons even after the April 2010 Dantewada massacre of 76 CRPF personnel by the Maoists and loss of all their weapons.
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December 4, 2017
Privatizing government defence industry
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The governmental has announced some disinvestment in the governmental defence industry like 10% in HAL, which does not amount to much change.
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December 4, 2017
Republic Day Parade 2018 will be special
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)That Republic Day Parade 2018 will be special is probably an understatement. Never have 10 heads of states been invited to this event, which India has done this time by inviting heads of all the 10 ASEAN states.
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December 4, 2017
Brazenly Open: Pakistan Army-Islamists Nexus
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)With concerted efforts by the Pakistani military to radicalize the population at large, their handling of the recent protests is hardly surprising.
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December 4, 2017
Hafiz Saeed — Key China-Pak asset
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)In January 2017, when Qamar Javed Bajwa was appointed Pakistan's Army Chief superseding his seniors including the Zubair Mahmood Hayat, present Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee since November 2016, Pakistani scholar Ayesha Siddiqa wrote, "Even his (Bajwa's) epaulette weighs heavy.
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December 4, 2017
Ivanka Trump boosts Indo-US relations
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The 8th annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), jointly hosted by the US and India and attended by 1,500 entrepreneurs, investors and eco-system supporters from 159 countries was held in Hyderabad from 28 to 30 November, 2017.
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November 15, 2017
India, US, Japan, Australia quadrilateral kicks off
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)November 12, 2017 witnessed the first meeting of officials of India, US, Japan and Australia meeting at Manila, giving shape to security cooperation...
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November 15, 2017
Continued US military assistance to Pakistan is unfortunate
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)When President Donald Trump unveiled his new Af-Pak policy on 21 August 2017 through a televised speech, he was most direct in telling Pakistan how it has been playing the double game with the US.
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November 15, 2017
No to Tejas and Arjun by military is misinformation
By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd)The media is agog with the news that the Armed Forces have said no to the indigenous Tejas fighter and the Arjun Tank.
