Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a successful trip to Central Asia and Russia in the past few weeks. Various new collaborations -- from tourism to terrorism -- got formalized during these visits. One influential agenda of this visit was to acquire the uranium required for nuclear energy production. Mr. Modi successfully worked out various modalities with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia in this regard. A few months back, he also collaborated with Canada and Australia regarding uranium trade with India.
The genesis of 'Directed Energy Weapons' (DEWs) came up during the cold war when Karl Bendetson and the High Frontier panel of private citizens advised President Ronald Reagan for a crash program to develop missile defences. It was not just to defend against Soviet nuclear weapons but also because of strong indications that the Soviets were going to deploy 'powerful directed energy weapons' in space to gain control of space by using weapons like lasers, jammers etc. Towards the end of the Cold War, the US focused on ballistic missile defence and spending on DEWs.
The latest Sukhoi T-50 prototype, PAK-FA, a twin-engine fifth-generation stealth jet fighter, aborted a takeoff at the recently held MAKS Air Show outside Moscow on 21 August 2011 after four days of successful demo flights. While two prototypes of PAK-FA have cumulatively made 48 flights since 29 January 2010, it will be important to know the reasons for this mishap.
The Pentagon releasing annual reports on Chinese Military Power is not new. However, for all these years, the Pentagon’s basic mandate has been to contextualize the Chinese threat to US interests.
India, today, stands at a threshold in leveraging its economic and military growth in consonant with its national security goals. This situation has earned both a national identity and an international status, where economic and military strength are major determinants. Ironically, India’s growing global status coincided with two major international developments: One is the disintegration of the erstwhile Soviet Union, and the second one is the end of the Cold War.