Rakesh Krishnan Simha, Author at raksha-anirveda.com

Terminator Troops: How Autonomous Robots Can Help India Win Wars and Defeat Terrorists

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - April 12, 2021

T he body count of counter insurgency operations in India makes disturbing reading. In April 2010, 76 CRPF policemen were killed in an ambush by Maoist terrorists in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. In February 2019, 40 Indian...

BRAHMOS: New Versions Are Faster, Stealthier, Deadlier

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - March 22, 2021

BRAHMOS has been described as the “Brahmastra for the Indian armed forces”. The supersonic cruise missile is not quite in the same league as the mighty weapon of Lord Brahma, but it is certainly...

Mission BrahMos: How India Got the World’s Most Powerful Cruise Missile

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - March 9, 2021

The history of arms development in India is littered with the debris of numerous stalled projects. The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project was 30 years late; the jet combat trainer has been shot down...

Revisiting Balakot: How the IAF Exposed Pakistan’s Window of Vulnerability

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - February 27, 2021

The daring raid by the Indian Air Force on February 26, 2019 in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, didn’t just destroy the training camps of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group. More significantly, the strike...

Why the Indian Air Force Should Not Rush into Stealth

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - February 21, 2021

If there’s one area in which China has acquired a significant lead over India it is in the development of stealth fighters. While India’s Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) venture with Russia crash landed...

Air-To-Air Missiles: India’s Window of Vulnerability

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - February 8, 2021

On the afternoon of December 12, 1971, at the peak of the India-Pakistan War, two Lockheed F-104 Starfighters of the Pakistan Air Force crossed the Gujarat border on their way to attack the forward...

War of the Titans: Despite the Naysayers, It’s Advantage India Versus China

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - January 6, 2021

When the world’s largest democracy is pitted against the world’s largest autocracy, the clash will always be unpredictable. This is because each side has vastly divergent strategic thinking and different ways of dealing with...

Hypersonic Weapons: Why India Must Close the Technology Gap

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - September 17, 2020

On September 7, India successfully flight tested a hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HSTDV), becoming the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to do so. According to the Defence Research and Development Organisation...

Pincer Movement: How the Quad Can Build a Great Wall against China

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - August 30, 2020

Years from now when communist China implodes like the former Soviet Union, analysts will look at the Galwan Valley clash as the tipping point that set in motion the chain of events that triggered...

How the Private Sector Can Enhance India’s Firepower

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - August 15, 2020

In 2009, long before Make in India became a popular buzzword in the defence industry, Mahindra Aerospace acquired a 75.1 per cent stake in Australian light aircraft manufacturer GippsAero, becoming the first – and...

French Fire: How the Rafale Could Ensure the IAF’s Air Dominance

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - July 29, 2020

T he first five Rafale fighter jets from France landed at the frontline Ambala airbase on July 29 after flying a circuitous 7,000 km journey from Paris, with a brief stopover in Dubai. By...

Kargil 1999: Pakistan’s Military Blunder, India’s Intelligence Failure, Strategic Gains

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - July 25, 2020

"With air support from the IAF, troops led by gallant young officers, the Indian Army recaptured the spurs, ridges and peaks, one by one. While following the news of recapture, my mind boggled: how...

Small Arms Development: Can Private Players Hit the Target?

Rakesh Krishnan Simha - July 17, 2020

The Indian Army is in the midst of a massive modernisation drive that will re-equip over a million troops with advanced personal arms. In parallel, the country’s paramilitary forces, comprising nearly a million soldiers,...