WHAT MTCR HAS FOR INDIA?

FOREIGN SECRETARY OF INDIA S. JAISHANKAR MTCR MEMBERSHIP PAPERS FROM  ENVOYS OF NETHERLANDS, FRANCE AND LUXEMBOURG. 

The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) is an informal, voluntary grouping of countries which aims to check the proliferation of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

It is not a treaty and does not impose any legally binding obligations on its adherents and members.A grouping of 35 countries, MTCR keeps a check on transfer of missiles and UAVs capable of carrying a payload of at least 500kg over a range of at least 300km. It also focuses on any equipment, software or technology that can enable a nation to produce such systems.The group’s ability to achieve its objectives depends on it coordinating individual national export licensing policies towards a single, common export policy that regulates the sale of any such systems or sub-systems.MTCR maintains a common list of items, including dual-use technology and components, which can be used to deliver WMDs or enable the manufacture of systems which can be deployed to deliver WMDs.

SO THIS MEANS:

1. Once India puts in place an appropriate export policy for items covered by the MTCR, an argument can be made that the sale of any such systems to India will not lead to any further proliferation.

2. Gaining MTCR membership will allow India to sell the BrahMos missiles, which it manufactures jointly with Russia, to countries like Vietnam. The operational range of the missile is just under the 300km threshold that the regime primarily concerns itself with.

3. During the Cold War, India was denied cryogenic engine technology. Now, the Indian Space Research Organisation will have access to restricted high-end technologies for developing its cryogenic engines in order to enhance space exploration.

4. India can now procure technologies to develop its indigenous Ballistic Missile System or missile shield to protect itself from incoming ballistic missiles.

5. India can also source surveillance drones from countries like the US.

6. In a boost to Make in India, Indian technology developed under the initiative will enjoy free movement out of the country, which in turn will contribute to the success of the programme.

7. Now that India is part of MTCR, it can oppose the entry of China and Pakistan should they apply for membership.

INDIA THE GLOBAL POWERHOUSE OF MILLITARY

MANPOWER : 

AVAILABLE MANPOWER: 615,201,057
FIT FOR SERVICE:               489,571,520
ACTIVE PERSONAL'S:            1,325,450
RESERVE PERSONAL'S:         1,155,000

AGNI-5

LAND FORCES :

TANKS:                                                                        6,464
NUCLEAR WARHEADS:                                       90-100
TOWED ARTILLERY:                                              7,417
MULTIPLE ROCKET LAUNCHING SYSTEMS:    300

ARJUN MBT

AIR FORCE :

FIGHTERS:          629
TRANSPORT:      667
TRAINER:            263
HELICOPTERS: 684

C-130J IN LEH

NAVY :

TOTAL SHIPS:                     202
AIRCRAFT CARRIERS:         2
SUBMARINES:                        15
AIR CRAFTS:                          46
DESTROYERS:                         9
FRIGATES:                              15
CORVETTES:                          25

INS VIKRMADITYA

JANNAT-E-KASHMIR

                                             "Agar Firdaus bar rooe zameen ast,

                                        hameen ast o, hameen ast o, hameen ast"

These words of 13th century sufi poet Amir Khusro needs no explanation at present also, in this 21st century. I have read and studied a lot about Kashmir from the last 2 decades, but i have seen it in all its forms  from early 20th century from the eyes of writers, Kasmiris,  soldiers, and books. From the shooting of the cameras in 60's to the shooting from the Guns in 90's, i have seen it.

When i saw kashmir from the eyes of  my father, it was in blossom's, full of beauty.From the yellow-red carpet of Chinars in Autumn to white carpet of snow in winters, Kashmir changed with seasons. 

Till 1980's Kashmir remained calm. One can taste Kashmiri cuisine's flavoured with saffron, Kashmiri chai with Bakarkhani, beautiful carpets, women with pashmina shawl's and locals smoking hookahs while sitting besides kangris.

Napolean Bonaparte bought Kashmiri shawl for his beloved wife as he has listened that Kashmiri shawl are very beautiful and are known for their best quality.

How can we forget the days of 60's and 70's, "Yeh chand sa roshan chehra" with Shami Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore. Shashi Kapoor's "pardesion se na akhiyaan milana" and many more.

And then in 1989 sound of melodies was replaced by the sound of Gun shots and blasts.

In 2010, I visited Kasmir first time on my way to Amarnath. On my way i saw men in olive, squinting from the roof tops, behind trees and from their bunkers.I was downhearted by seeing this.I remembered and hummed-

                 " Phir Jarra Jarra mehkega, Khushbu ke mausam aayenga
                                      Phir Chinar ki shaakhon pe panchi,

                                               ghar apna banaayenge, 

                       In raahon se jaane wale laut ke wapas aayenge,

                   Phir jannat ki galion mein log nagme gaayenge.................."

YEMEN CRISIS : THE STORY OF CONFLICT

PRESIDENT SALEH

The Houthis who started Shia insurgency in Yemen are actually Zaydi Muslims a subsect of Shia muslims constituting 2/5 th of the population. To say the that the present situation is just a Shia-Sunni rivalry is not right. Although the core of  Yemen crisis is Shia-Sunni rivalry but it is the proxy war's of Iran( Shia power) and Saudi Arabia (Sunni power) which has fueled the crisis. 

To understand the present situation it is necessary to peek into the past history of this impoverished country. There were two states north and south in the present day Yemen which existed till 1990's.The southern socialist state was formed at the end of 1960's and was officially called the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. The civil war which ended in 1968, the Yemini Arab Republic came into existence. The power struggle continued between them for many coming years.

  

In 1990's both the states reached an agreement and formed the present day republic of Yemen. In 2011 Arab spring protest started in Sanna. Initially the protest were against unemployment, adverse economic situation and the proposed amendment to the Yemini constitution which allow president Saleh to remain in office for life. President Saleh was badly injured in rocket attack and suffered burns to 40% of his body and was flown to Saudi Arabia for treatment. When he returned he promised to hand over the power to his Deputy Adbrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Last year following the conclusion Hadi announced that Yemen will become Federation of six region. Houthis rejected the plan and blows up Yemen's largest oil pipeline and took over the reigns of the Capital Sanna.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN YEMEN ARE INCREASING

The coalition air strikes may prolong the struggle and will create the vacuum which will result in non state actress to fullfill their dreams. It is not a domestic or regional problem but is Global problem. International Community will have to do something before the string is out of hand. for countries like India to remain neutral is the best policy.

F-35 and F-22 V/S T-50 PAKFA

            

 The T-50 PAK-FA bests the F-35 in several categories, including fuel load —19,624 lbs internally for the F-35 vs. 25,000 lbs for the T-50. And the Sukhoi fighter also boasts something called “extreme plus agility.”While the T-50 lacks the “critical all-aspect stealth performance” of the F-22, its “extreme plus agility” could make the PAK-FA the “most lethal and survivable fighter ever built for air combat engagements.”The F-35 and T-50 have similar RCS behavior. But the T-50’s unusual shape could actually prove advantageous — in a separate analysis, American radars have an exceedingly hard time detecting the PAK-FA, while Chinese “counter-VLO radars” spot the T-50 best — bad news on all fronts. The T-50 prototype is still in the early stages of development, and the PAK-FA won’t enter service until at least 2016 (and even then, probably not in large quantities). As it stands, the T-50 wouldn’t satisfy the requirements of a very low observable (VLO) design, crucial to modern fifth-gen aerial warfare and considering America’s difficulty in detecting the T-50 — to say nothing of successfully engaging it — the skies could get a lot less friendly for the Joint Strike Fighter in the next decade.

F-35

The United States Air Force undertook the Advance Tactical Fighter program in the mid 1980’s. Two air superiority fighters to replace F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon have since then been developed. In 2005 the first fifth generation fighter jet the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor was introduced by the USAF. It is an air superiority, supersonic, highly maneuverable stealth-featuring fighter equipped with state of the art weapons and electronics. It has supercruise at Mach 1.8, which means fly at Mach 1.8 without the use of afterburners. The F-22 has never been sold to a foreign country. Even though it was expensive, the US let Lockheed Martin built another fifth generation fighter – The F-35 Lighning II. The aircraft is similar to the F-22 in terms of stealth and having top modern weapons, but it was built in three different variants because it was planned to be used by both the Marines, Air Force and Navy and therefore needed to have STOVL and Vertical Take off and Landing features. The equipment and performance can be changed depending on the mission, for example, if the objective does not require stealth technology the external pylons for weapons or fuel can be loaded (which increases the not only the weapons load but also the radar-visibility). This fighter got extremely expensive because to build a fifth generation aircraft capable of doing vertical takeoffs and landings proved itself to be extremely complex. The project has currently cost the US tax payers over 1 trillion dollars, and is by that the most expensive aircraft program ever.

T-50 PAK FA

The Sukhoi PAK FA “Perspektivny aviatsionny kompleks frontovoy aviatsii”, which means “Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation” is a twin-engine, multirole fighter jet developed by Sukhoi. It is planned to be introduced by 2016. The aircraft is equipped – just like the Raptor – with  top modern weapons, stealth technology and has supercruise at mach 1.6. Since it has not yet been revealed there is very much speculations about it and there is a lot of propaganda involved. For instance Vladimir Putin claimed that: “This machine will be superior to our main competitor, the F-22, in terms of maneuverability, weaponry and range” which you can choose to interpret in any way you want. But it is by many considered to be the best fighter in the world when it enters service with the Russian air force. The main points that are considered by many to be better with the PAK FA than with the raptor is its IRST, its engines and its 3D Thrust vectoring system (the Raptor does not feature IRST and only has 2D TV). The engine that is currently being developed by Saturn and is said to be the “fifth generation fighter engine” will be delivered in the coming years and just like any other tremendously expensive project there has been a lot of speculations about it. India is also currently developing a fifth generation fighter projected to be introduced in 2022, namely the HAL FGFA, which is an upgraded version of the PAK FA. It is claimed that it is supposed to have 43 improvements compared to the PAK FA, among others stealth, supercruise, advanced sensors, networking and combat avionics.

TOP FIVE WAR QUOTES

"ALL WAR REPRESENTS FAILURE OF DIPLOMACY"

- TONY BENN

"IF YOU WIN, YOU NEED TO HAVE TO EXPLAIN ..............IF YOU LOSE, YOU SHOULD NOT BE THERE TO EXPLAIN"

- ADOLF HITLER

"APPEAR WEAK WHEN YOU ARE STRONG AND STRONG WHEN YOU ARE WEAK"

- SUN TZU

" IN THE TIMES OF WAR THE LAW FALLS SILENT"

-MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO

"IT IS FOOLISH AND WRONG TO MOURN THE MEN WHO DIED. RATHER, WE SHOULD THANK GOD THAT SUCH MEN LIVED"

- GEORGE S. PATTON JR.