Motivation: Roots of It

We Recognise it, and the Nation Salutes You in Reverence.

Sukhi

Military Robots

Presently, military robots are used as UAVs or for landmine or explosive search. A few developed armies are using them for counter-terrorism purposes. However, robots are not autonomous entities with positron brains. Their performance depends on human control.

Robotic animals could be of use in logistics too. Mules with the Indian army have significant utility for carrying logistic supplies to higher mountain ridges, robots could help in this regard and over a period of time could replace animals.

In the years to come as robots are going to become more autonomous, the issue of morality is likely to emerge in a big way. This is because questions may arise as to who should be held morally responsible for actions taken by an autonomous robot. Logically, armies should restrain themselves from giving this authority to autonomous robots.

Read the full Article on http://www.idsa.in/reports/MilitaryRobots170409.html

Brigadier (Retired) Sukhwindar Singh
http://www.svipja.com/
Credit:http://www.idsa.in/ , India's Think Tank on Matters Defence.

FDI in A & D Sector

FDI in sensitive and strategic sectors like A & D has always been a point of debate the world over. National interests are considered paramount in such decisions with views of other stakeholders happily considered /meshed .

India permits only 26% FDI in the A & D Sector as of now. It would purchase 'sensitive' technologies, if needed, on down payment. Reasons for these policy decisions are NOT very difficult to fathom. And also its Defence Offset Policy, called restrictive by many, is India focused to meet the declared objectives.

Control, Ability of Indian Corporates and GoI to Invest in the Strategic Industry, Hostile Takeover(s), Strategic Imperatives, Technology Issues / Implications, In-house Capabilities, etc, are some of the factors that dictate the policy parameters.

An Article by Mr Julian Scopes, President BAE Systems, India, FDI in India's Defence and Security Sector, presents the Industry concerns on the issue of FDI and TT. Explains concerns of major stakeholders who wish to be part of India's strategic initiatives. Link: http://www.freemarketsdefence.com/show_content.asp?cid=29 to read the full Article.

Needs an open debate.

Brigadier (Retired) Sukhwindar Singh
http://www.svipja.com/
(A Global e-Solution for Offsets)
Credit: The Economic Times

IDSA: The Week(s) in Review (Apr 20-26, Apr 13-19, Apr 6-12, 2009)

The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) is a registered society. It is considered to be the premier strategic and security studies Think Tank in India. The Institute is funded by the Indian Ministry of Defence, but functions autonomously. Apart from research, the Institute also provides training programmes to civilian and military officers of the Government of India. The Indian Parliament's Standing Committee on Defence frequently utilises the expertise of the Institute.

Publications of the Institute comprise of journals, books, monographs, conference proceedings, research/analytical reports, Occasional Papers, Delhi Papers and miscellaneous publications like brochures, leaflets, etc. The Institute has exchange arrangements for books and journals with several similar Institutes/publishers in India and abroad.

The Week in Review (TWIR) covers areas of strategic interests to India. Please Click the links below to read TWIR:

1. April 20-26, 4(4), 2009

2. April 13-19, 4(3), 2009
3. April 6-12, 4(2), 2009

Brigadier (Retired) Sukhwindar Singh
http://www.svipja.com/
( A Global e-Solution for Offsets)
Credit: http://www.idsa.in/ India's Think Tank on Matters Defence.

Management: Your Day-to-Day Presentation

Presenting 'Self', and Presenting 'Own View Point' have always been debated in various settings. In some cases, it marks difference between success and failure. It is always advisable to "Present yourself well and mind your manners...".

Let Us all master this 'art & science'; is needed at every age & stage of life.

Brigadier (Retired) Sukhwindar Singh

http://www.svipja.com/

Credit: Para Signals Fraternity

Tactics for the Wise

Look around for 'safety & security'. And then search & follow 'Best Route to the Target'. Your overall smartness helps !

Brigadier (Retired) Sukhwindar Singh
http://www.svipja.com/
Credit: Para Signals Fraternity

Strategy: Vision

Leadership needs Vision. Top Leadership needs Strategic Vision. We invest 'rightly' to attain our declared Objective(s) with risks in view. This way the Leadership never fails the Led.

Microsoft's Corporate Leadership could envision this. This is the Photograph Taken when Microsoft was started.

Brigadier (Retired) Sukhwindar Singh
http://www.svipja.com/
(A Global e-Solution for Offsets)

Credit: Wikipedia.

Strategy: Not Always by Yourself

While restructuring a system, executives should consider the full range of deal options ie, not just Mergers and Acquisitions but also Alliances and JVs. In some cases—when organisations are unwilling to Merge or be Acquired—alliances are the next best thing to a Merger. In other cases, they are actually preferable to M&A. Experience from a range of Sectors shows that CEOs and CFOs should consider several types of transformational alliances.

When an organisation wants to stay involved in business but need to gain scale to compete, they may unite units into a JV. The example is best taken from the business world.

Sony and Ericsson, for example, combined their mobile-handset units to take on Nokia and Motorola. (Other examples include Spansion, which combines the flash memory businesses of AMD and Fujitsu, and Renesas Technology, the $8 billion combination of Hitachi’s and Mitsubishi Electric’s semiconductor operations). JVs face many of the same integration challenges found in large-scale Mergers, and the partners must cope with the added problems of shared ownership. Nonetheless, JVs can generate synergies equal to 50 to 75 percent of the value of the contributed businesses.

This ‘thought’ may provide Us a lesson in unifying our efforts in any field.

Brigadier (Retired) Sukhwindar Singh
http://www.svipja.com/
(A Global e-Solution for Offsets)
Knowledge Credit: Mckinsey Quarterly

Shaping the Neighbourhood: A Discussion on Strategic Affairs with C Raja Mohan( Part 5/6)

Earlier this year you argued that the profound changes along Pakistan’s North-West frontier “could redefine the security politics of the subcontinent”. Can you elaborate?

Since the time Alexander the Great showed up at India in 4th century BC, the land between the Indus river and the Hindu Kush mountains has been the principal theatre shaping the security dynamic of the subcontinent. All great empires in India had constantly struggled to maintain control over the region and prevent other powers from penetrating into the subcontinent. The Great Game of the 19th Century—between Britain and Russia —was part of the same pattern. The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980s and the US intervention in Afghanistan since 2001 too are similar in terms of their impact on the security of South Asia.

Yet since Partition and independence, India has tended to lose its inherited sense of geopolitics in the North-Western parts of the subcontinent. Our perennial confrontation with Pakistan and the dispute over Kashmir has prevented us from taking a more strategic view of the borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan. To be sure, we have had good relations with Afghanistan, our neighbour’s neighbour; but they have tended to stop short of becoming strategic.

Today, as the principal challenge to Pakistan comes from its deteriorating security condition on its Western borderlands, India must begin to take an integrated view of the dynamic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

That India has more strategic resources today makes it a potential player in shaping the future of the North-Western parts of the Subcontinent.

Brigadier (Retired) Sukhwindar Singh

http://www.svipja.com/

(A Global e-Solution for Offsets)

Credit: Nitin Pai, Editor, Pragati.