Books by Jasjit Singh

Contributed articles presented at a seminar moderated by the Centre for Air Power Studies.

The present age widely referred to as the information age has changed the nature of wars not in degree but in kind. Warfare is no longer confined to the militaries or to the battlefields but has transcended into the civilian domain; today, it also involves the entire government infrastructure, the commercial and economic zones. Network Centric Warfare (NCW) is applicable to all levels of warfare and contributes to the coalescence of strategy, operations and tactics. It is transparent to the mission, force size, its composition and geography. NCW has many attributes which has enabled it to become as potent as it is today. These characteristics have been made possible mainly due to technology and rapid progress in every sphere which has ensured rapid computing and diminishing the tyranny of distances. While the Nuclear Age spawned a return to limited war, the Information Age has had its own unique impact on the conduct of military operations. is century has been characterised by the widespread impact of technology in many fields. Information, communications and data processing have profoundly influenced every significant aspect of human activity and have irrevocably transformed war-fighting methodology. e distinction between war and peace has blurred and is reaching the vanishing point with no definable battlefields or fronts. e distinction between "civilian" and "military" is fast disappearing as is evident from the number of cyber intrusions in the defence, scientific, banking and commercial sectors the world over. As a result, most states today are perpetually at war; a war of a different kind, not against tangible elements but against bits and bytes. Terrorism is a reality today; it is a growing menace in the civilised society and is here to stay. It has taken warfare into the civilian domain. It is difficult to predict where, when and what will be struck and, therefore, not possible to keep a standing force at all vulnerable points. is has led to wars of the present being more covert, with the adversaries learning to use the strengths of the Information Technology (IT) against the proponents. This information war is split between the offensive and the defensive. e advantage more often than not lies with the attacker who can choose the time and place of the attack. e blurring of offence and defence reflects the dual nature of NCW; it tends to defy and cut across standard boundaries, jurisdictions, and distinctions between state and society, public and private, war and peace, war and crime, civilian and military, police and military, and legal and illegal. is makes it difficult, if not impossible, for a government to assign responsibility to any single agency- e.g., military, police, or intelligence-to be in charge of responding. Sharing information and massing of forces becomes critical for quick and effective action. This book will be of immense value to not only the defence community but also to all those interested in understanding the way conflicts of the present generation affect the lives of the entire population. No particular academic background has been assumed of its readership. All arguments developed in the paper are couched in terms of concepts that are introduced in the paper.

There is an apparent global power shift from the West to the East, essentially due to the rise of India and China and, as a consequence, the US has called for greater presence in the East in the midst of a major economic crisis and huge defence cuts. Many, after the Cold War, considered the international order to be unipolar; however, the rise of India and China, with Russia, Japan and South Korea assuming significant roles, appears to indicate a shift to a polycentric global order. Hence, the Indo-Russia dialogue assumes critical importance in the 21st century as a result of new evolving power centres and the relative decline of some older ones. The proceedings of the seminar highlight the requirement of a new relationship based on the Indo-Russia framework rather than on the earlier Indo-Soviet model in the midst of the changing regional strategic landscape. The book also draws attention to the shift in the US policy in East Asia. The economic and military rise of China and India; the lacklustre economic performance of Japan; the emergence of India as a nuclear weapon power; and the relative decline of US credibility as a security provider have altered the strategic landscape of the region. China's assertiveness and North Korea's emergence as a nuclear power are challenging the US presence in the region and, therefore, forcing the US defence policy to 'Look East'. .is book brings out an exciting analysis of future Indo-Russia relations based on defence, civil nuclear energy, space and science and technology.

With the shift of global power from West to East, we have entered the era of an Asia-centred century. The rise of China and India, the recovery and resurgence of Russia on one side and Japan on the other, and the nature of the international order are leading to enormous changes. Changes in the military, economic and political dynamics of Asia are accelerating. Historically, changes in the international order and equations of power among nations have been almost inevitably accompanied by conflicts and wars. The challenge ahead of the international community in general and Asian countries in particular would be how to ensure that this is avoided, and competition, so necessary to shaping the future, is managed below the levels of armed conflict. This is crucial for most countries like India so that their comprehensive national development can progress without adverse developments. In order to work toward such goals, it is necessary to look at security and military-related issues as objectively as possible. This volume, a resource base for the professional and the general reader, is the fourth in the series of the annual publication of the Centre for Air Power Studies under this title, which aims to fill a critical information and knowledge gap in current strategic literature dealing with military strategy, defence politics and trends in military capabilities that impact countries in Asia. In particular, it covers some of the important areas that affect Asian countries and the developments in Asian countries, with a focus on China, India and Pakistan, to provide the requisite regional balance.

Aviation came to India quite early, in fact a century ago, and an aircraft factory, Hindustan Aircraft Ltd., had been set up 70 years ago in Bangalore. But India, from its 25 percent share of global manufacturing in 1750, had been deindustrialised in the previous two centuries and its technological and economic capacity had been emasculated by the Raj. Hence, it had no industry, leave alone defence industry, to talk of at the time of independence. But by 1948, the first Indian design of a primary trainer, the HT-2, was started and soon, the licensed production of the first jet fighter, the Vampire, commenced at HAL. During the 15 years before the Sino-Indian War in 1962, HAL moved ahead rapidly, designing a number of light aircraft. It began the design of the jet trainer Kiran, and manufactured the famous Gnat fighter which acquired the reputation of "Sabre Killer" in the 1965 War with Pakistan. Above all, it started an ambitious project in 1956 to manufacture a multi-role combat aircraft, the HF-24 Marut, which turned out to be an outstanding design. Notwithstanding our inability to get an adequately powerful engine for it, three squadrons equipped with the aircraft served the country well in the 1971 War on the Western front. During the Nehru era, the aircraft industry rested on three strands of self-reliance: indigenous design and development, licensed manufacture, and outright import in some cases. Unfortunately, after the 1962 War, the need for expansion of the IAF led to enormous demands of modern aircraft of all types, and the country's defence needs were mostly met by licensed production of hundreds of fighter and transport aircraft and helicopters. We seemed to have become complacent (or incapable of professional thinking). In the process, the self-reliance model of three strands shrank to just two strands, with indigenous design and development, which is the most crucial element in creating autonomy in aircraft and other industrial enterprises, suffering a serious setback amounting to neglect for more than three decades. This has been changing during the past decade and new opportunities are opening up with a sustained high economic growth on one side and opening up of new sources of technology and arms on the other. But major institutional and structural reforms would be required to take advantage of the new opportunities. This volume by the country's leading defence expert, points out to the nature of these reforms after examining the Russian and Chinese experiences. This book is a must for military and industry professionals, students of defence, those interested in aviation and the general reader.