Month: July 2009

India views independent UNIFIL mandate impractical

Israel’s concern is that UNIFIL’s (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) operational coordination with the LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) results in the covering-up of evidence of Hizbullah rearmament and would like UNIFIL forces to have a more robust mandate and exercise operational independence.

IAF’s MMRCA trials to begin next week

StratPost has been reliably informed that the trials for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) are slated to begin in the last week of July or the first week of August. Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet is to be the first aircraft that will be tried out for the estimated $ 10 billion order.

End use monitoring pact creates political furor

Former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha asked in Parliament whether the pact would allow US inspection even for military purchases from third countries if they had used American technology and whether inspectors would be able to make on-site visits to sensitive installations to inspect fixed, immovable assets.

Baloch reference confounds Indian security officials

‘Why did they have to open that door? This will simply give encouragement to the Pakistanis to try and drag us down on one more issue at every forum. Our behavior might be an open book, but that doesn’t mean we allow them an opportunity to twist it into something else’.

Indian, French navies rescue Indian dhow from pirates

The INS Godavari and the French warship Aconit have rescued an Indian dhow with a crew of 14 Indians after it was hijacked by pirates off Boosaaso in Somali last Friday. Pirates had attempted to use the dhow, the MV Nafeya, crewed by 14 Indians, as a mother-ship for hijacking the VLCC size Liberian tanker MVA Elephant.

Army chief to visit US next week

General Deepak Kapoor will visit the US on Monday. The current agenda in increasing Indo-US military cooperation includes the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), the End User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA) and the Communications Interoperability and Security Agreement (CISA). Interestingly, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be India at the same time.

Gripen takes a hit in MMRCA race after US bullying: Report

The Jerusalem Post has reported that under US pressure the Israeli Defense Ministry has ordered the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to withdraw from a project to jointly develop the Gripen IN with Gripen’s parent company Saab. The Gripen IN is the aircraft Saab has been proposing to offer the Indian Air Force.

The opposition to a CDS

The issue of the creation of a Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) for the Indian armed forces is one who’s fate has been the hostage of usually reluctant government discussions and opposition from various quarters. StratPost analyzes this opposition to a CDS that has so far precluded jointsmanship and strategic planning.

Being gay still a crime in the military

While the Delhi High Court’s unprecedented judgment, striking down the applicability of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the case of consenting adults, essentially decriminalizes homosexuality, the Indian armed forces will still consider it a punishable offense.