Whichever party or coalition comes to power, there is little option than to do business

Supporters hold posters of Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia following her death in Dhaka on December 30, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

Business Standard

India's armed forces are adopting artificial intelligence. Analysts urge advancing it

A device for underwater domain awareness that uses AI or machine learning and goes through voluminous data (Photo: Ministry of Defence)

Public sector arms manufacturers accounted for 77 per cent of India's record ₹1.5 trillion defence production in FY25. Moves to reform them must get the diagnosis right first

Indigenously made T-90, Arjun and T-72 tanks and the Brahmos missile (Photos: Reuters)

India's Global South ambition runs up against China's power - making coalition-building, not solo leadership, the more realistic path

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa during the BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 7, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

As protests rage inside Iran and US warships gather in the region, West Asia edges closer to a dangerous confrontation

An F-18 Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which, along with supporting warships, arrived in West Asia on January 27, 2026 (Photo: US Navy)

From Chola naval power to Curzon's imperial spectacle and today's Indo-Pacific contest, the Indian Ocean has long shaped Asia's politics, trade, and ideas

Subhas Chandra Bose transfers in a rubber raft from a German to a Japanese submarine in the Indian Ocean in April 1943 (Photo: Netaji Research Bureau, Kolkata)

As militancy, military clashes and mass deportations collide, Pakistan and Afghanistan slide from uneasy coexistence towards open confrontation

An anti-aircraft gun at the Afghan-Pakistan border in October 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

As the transatlantic order fractures and great-power ties realign, Europe and India confront parallel reckonings

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on February 28, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

From Project 2025 to executive overreach, the first year reveals how Trump has reshaped the US state, sidelined institutions, and redrawn the boundaries of presidential authority

In his second term in office, Trump’s use of executive orders can only be described as both flagrant and profligate (Photo: Reuters)

In his second term in office, Trump's use of executive orders can only be described as both flagrant and profligate (Photo: Reuters)

As the Russia-Ukraine war edges towards a negotiated end, India's strategic autonomy and energy security face a defining test

Ukrainian soldiers test a fighting unmanned ground vehicle in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region on March 13, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

Ukrainian soldiers test a fighting unmanned ground vehicle in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region on March 13, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

A dramatic US military intervention, the capture of a sitting president, and the return of gunboat diplomacy signal a new and dangerous chapter in global politics

A demonstrator holds a portrait of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to demand his release following his capture by US forces, in Caracas on January 15, 2026 (Photo: Reuters)

As India strengthens its defence capabilities with AI and frontier technology, the armed forces face a rapidly evolving landscape of information warfare, cyber threats, and autonomous combat systems

modern warfare, modern war, cyber attack, artificial intelligence, robotics

Representational image (Imaging: Ajaya Mohanty)

HAL is leveraging its legacy and ramping up research & development to secure its place in India's evolving defence landscape

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Chairman and Managing Director D K Sunil with the indigenous light combat Tejas aircraft (Photo: HAL)

A new set of disruptive technologies, indiscriminate use of air power, and obstinate willingness on both sides to test the tripwires have made the India-Pakistan conflict much more complex

Operation Sindoor involved the IAF successfully utilising the Russian-made S-400 missile defence system to counter Pakistani air attacks (Photo: Reuters)

India’s former ambassador to China, Ashok Kantha, tells Satarupa Bhattacharjya in a video interview that talks between the two countries are proving to be a protracted, difficult process > > > >

India's national security strategy is still developing, with challenges in balancing traditional and new threats

national security strategy, Indian military, opinion

Indian soldiers disembark from a military transport plane at a forward airbase in the Ladakh region on September 15, 2020 (Photo: Reuters)

Post-Operation Sindoor, India and Pakistan are locked in a technology-driven arms race

India seeks additional Rafale fighter jets from France (Photo: PTI)

The armed forces would do well to review structural deficiencies for its western and northern borders

China’s helicopters on an amphibious assault ship take part in military drills in waters southeast of Taiwan, on December 29, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

China's helicopters on an amphibious assault ship take part in military drills in waters southeast of Taiwan, on December 29, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

Entry of private players could boost power production but diluting regulatory benchmarks might prove detrimental

A policeman walks on a beach near Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu (Photo: Reuters)

China continues to see India-Russia relations as a double-edged sword

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose before their meeting in Beijing, on September 2, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

Information warfare is where legitimacy is established, deterrence is built, and sovereignty is defended

A Navy commando rappels down from a Westland Sea King helicopter during Exercise Trishul in Porbandar, Gujarat, on November 13, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

The need of the hour is to strengthen military capability and logistic readiness, and streamline defence budgeting

Indian and Chinese soldiers marching along the India-China border in Bumla, Arunachal Pradesh, in 2019 (Photo: PTI)

India’s former ambassador to the United States, Navtej Sarna, tells Satarupa Bhattacharjya in a video interview that a trade deal might not be enough for US President Donald Trump > > >

One of the foremost experts on South Asian security and military, Christine Fair tells Blueprint that the US under President Trump is ceding ground to China not just in South Asia but everywhere

The Blueprint podcast with Christine Fair

A veteran of four decades in the defence industry, Arun T Ramchandani, Senior Vice-President (Precision Engineering & Systems) at Larsen & Toubro, speaks to BS Blueprint

An expert in European foreign and security policy, SVEN BISCOP speaks to BS Blueprint

The Blueprint Podcast with Sven Biscop

India's former Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal, tells Blueprint why the commonly stated idea of the United States (US) seeing India as a bulwark against China does not reflect India's priorities.

The Blueprint Podcast with Kanwal Sibal

Congolese soldiers guard a military vehicle in Muadiamvita, North Kivu, in February 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

The latest precision weapons from around the world

Australia’s new missile facility (Photo: Lockheed Martin)

Australia's new missile facility (Photo: Lockheed Martin)

The complicated, fragmented, and ever-evolving conflict in Myanmar involves the military junta and numerous ethnic armed groups

The Myanmar Army’s Russian-developed Mi-17 helicopter (Photo: Russian Helicopters)

The latest directed-energy military weapons from around the world

World’s maiden laser-armed tank (Photo: FNSS)

World's maiden laser-armed tank (Photo: FNSS)

Bangladesh votes on February 12 in its first election since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government; the outcome could shape political stability and ties with India

Bangladesh elections 2026, bangladesh protests

Protest, Bangladesh Protest

India and Greece on Monday signed a Joint Declaration of Intent on strengthening defence industrial cooperation between the countries, which marks a starting point for developing a five-year roadmap for boosting the partnership.
The agreement was inked after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks with Minister of National Defence of the Hellenic Republic, Nikolaos-Georgios Dendias, at the Manekshaw Centre here.
Later in a post on X, Singh also welcomed the announcement from the Greek side that an International Liaison Officer from that country will be positioned at the Information Fusion Center-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), Gurugram, to enhance maritime cooperation between both seafaring nations.
"Delighted to meet the Minister National Defence of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Nikolaos-Georgios Dendias in New Delhi today. India and Greece signed the Joint Declaration of Intent on Strengthening the Bilateral Defence Industrial Cooperation and exchanged the Bilateral Milita

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

The two countries decided to expand capacity of their respective indigenous defence industries through partnership between India's 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', Hellenic defence reforms under 'Agenda 2030'

Press Trust of India

The decision was taken at a meeting between National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and his Canadian counterpart Nathalie Drouin in Ottawa

Ajit Doval

India also reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Malaysia's role as a BRICS Partner Country and noted Malaysia's aspiration to become a full member of the grouping

PM Modi, Malaysia, visit, Modi

During PM Narendra Modi's Kuala Lumpur visit, India and Malaysia signed 11 agreements spanning semiconductors, payments and disaster management, while pledging to expand trade and investment ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (PMO via PTI Photo)

Former spymaster Vikram Sood's dose of realism needed a bit more critical thinking when it turned its gaze inward

Great Power Games: From Western Decline to Eastern Ascent by Vikram Sood published by Juggernaut Books

How India halted Pakistan's armoured onslaught in 1965

Pakistan's Patton tanks destroyed in the Battle of Asal Uttar during the 1965 war (Photo: Ministry of Defence)

India's first Republic Day parade began the tradition of showcasing arms

The Republic Day parade has been held every year on Rajpath (now Kartavya Path) since 1955 (Photo: Ministry of Defence)

Shadi Hamid's argument for a world with the US as the sole hegemon is more confused than convincing

The Case for American Power By Shadi Hamid Simon & Schuster

The 2024 Sipri data suggests that Indian companies have a lot of catching up to do in arms revenues

Representational image (Photo: Shutterstock)

The Business Standard Defence Index is designed to track the performance of 25 key defence stocks

Representational image (Photo: Reuters)

Operation Sindoor might prompt an increase in expenditure in the coming years

Graphics by the Blueprint design team

Photo: Shutterstock

Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and China fare better in proportional terms

A UN Peacekeeping woman personnel from India interacting with local people in South Sudan on November  12, 2025 (Photo: UN Peacekeeping mission)

The complex technology behind the fighter jet engines is guarded fiercely but India can draw lessons from its domestically built one

A Kaveri derivate engine at the Aero India show in Bengaluru in February 2021 (Photo: Shutterstock)

It weighs about 13 tonnes and its USP is that it will carry precision-guided munitions with warheads

Ghatak, an advanced unmanned combat aerial vehicle (Photo: DRDO)

Future battlefields will require on-site processing hardware and capabilities at the frontline, says a senior Army officer

Difference between conventional AI model and AI in the box (Imaging: Ajaya Kumar Mohanty)

It has a range of up to 10 km and its USP is its top-attack capability with an imaging infrared seeker

The NAG Mark 2, third-generation anti-tank guided missile (Photo: DRDO)

The future in the present: AI in the armed forces

With Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's capture, the United States reasserts its pre-eminence in Latin America

Captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is escorted for a courthouse appearance to face multiple charges,including narco-terrorism, in New York City on January 5, 2026 (Photo: Reuters)

A return to spheres of influence in Venezuela

The army has found an answer to China's rapid build-up of infrastructure and military installations on the border

Indian Army personnel assembling the 3D-printed structure (Photo: Indian Army)

3D-printed military structures dot the Himalayas

How India can lead the Global South

From power grids to payments, India's digital backbone is increasingly under strain

Cyber suraksha exercise in June 2025 (Photo: PIB)

Cyber war without a strategy

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Industry insiders expect the government to push military modernisation much further - and faster

The Indian Air Force light combat helicopter Prachand performs during the Aero India airshow in Bengaluru on February 13, 2023 (Photo: Reuters)

Inside the next Defence budget

Why winter gear is central to building  the country's Himalayan deterrence

Breakdown of the Himkavach (Photo: DRDO; Graphics: Blueprint design desk)

Holding the frigid ground

A geopolitical history of the Indian Ocean arena

Naval mines have re-emerged as potent instruments of modern conflict but India is not immune to their destructive power

INS Kozhikode (M-71), a Karwar-class minesweeper commissioned in 1988, carrying out mine-laying and clearing operations before it was decommissioned in 2019 (Photo: Indian Navy)

Exploding sleeper cells of the sea

Building a pipeline of world-class defence technologies needs greater coherence among the military, academia and industry

Missing synergy

What India's Integrated Rocket Force would mean for deterrence, doctrine, and defence

A long shot

As Washington grows risk-averse and Beijing gains leverage, the Seoul deal reshapes India's geopolitical space

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping talk as they leave after a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, in Busan, South Korea, October 30, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

Trump's search for a 'grand bargain' with China: How should India respond?

The push for reform will shape the next phase of India's military modernisation

The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd-developed light combat aircraft Tejas Mark 1A after its maiden flight in Nashik on October 17, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

Why 2026 matters

How India must prepare to fight the next war with China

As Moscow deepens ties with China and courts Pakistan, India must engage Russia with clear eyes and calibrated realism

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (left) speaking in New Delhi in November 1973. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is seated alongside (Photo: Russian Embassy in India)

India-Russia relations without illusions

The privately held "big four" may yet land safely, despite the presence of public sector giant HAL in the race

Artist Kuntal Biswas' depiction of the country’s planned indigenous first stealth fighter jet (Photo: Kuntal Biswas)

Taxiing in: India's stealth fighter

As the global centre of gravity shifts towards the Indo-Pacific, India faces both opportunity and challenge in a bipolar world shaped by US-China rivalry

The Chinese naval ship Qi Jiguang arrives at a commercial port in Sihanoukville, southern Cambodia, on October 10 (Photo: PTI)

India's gambit for the Indo-Pacific century

The task demands a fusion of strategy, infrastructure, and cutting-edge technology to secure territorial sovereignty

Army personnel patrol alongside robotic mules near the LoC on the outskirts of Jammu on October 16 (Photo: PTI)

The 'modern' guarding forces of India's borders

Palestinian officials shed light on the challenges of postwar reconstruction

A man looks out from his damaged apartment at the destruction in his neighbourhood in Gaza City in October (Photo: PTI)

Can Gaza rise from rubble?

Women may be marching perfectly in parades but they are still denied the opportunity to serve in combat roles in the Indian Army

Colonel Sophia Qureshi (right) and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh at an Indian government media briefing on Operation Sindoor in New Delhi on May 10 (Photo: Reuters)

A battle within

Experts caution India on China's Indo-Pacific moves

The Indian guided-missile destroyer INS Kolkata leaves Sydney Harbour after the conclusion of the Malabar naval exercise in Sydney, Australia, on August 22, 2023 (Photo: Reuters)

Battle for the high seas

The public company is betting big on India's second attempt to claim a larger share of global shipbuilding

MDL's present-day-80-acre shipyard originated in a small dry dock in 1774 (Photo: Bhaswar Kumar)

As tides shift, MDL lays new keel

Operation Sindoor revealed how maritime power - not missiles or borders - now defines the next phase of the India-Pakistan rivalry

Pakistan Navy's submarine sails past a naval sailing ship during the sea phase of its 9th Multinational Maritime Exercise AMAN-25 in the Arabian Sea near Karachi on February 10 (Photo: Reuters)

Hot waters - India and Pakistan flex their muscles in the Arabian Sea

As wars grow faster, smarter, and borderless, India faces a pivotal choice - modernise its doctrine or risk strategic irrelevance

The Indian Army conducts Exercise Divya Drishti in Sikkim to test modern warfare systems (Photo: Indian Army)

Revisiting India's military doctrine

Sudarshan Chakra fuses shield and sword into one doctrine of power, but its broad contours are unclear

The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza, as seen from the city of Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023 (Photo: Reuters)

From Iron Dome to Star Wars, it is now India's turn

modern warfare, artificial intelligence, cyber war, indian warfare, robotics

Indian Army personnel inspect an armed drone during exercise Drone Prahar (Photo: Indian Army)

Old war, new plan: Experts urge policy consolidation on unconventional combat

HAL turns to its past to navigate an uncertain future

National Security Strategy: Framing the first steps in the Indian context

Incremental climbs on the escalation ladder

A combat-capable flying wing UCAV at Malan, underscoring Beijing's push to expand its stealth drone fleet and reshape air power dynamics

The model of a Chinese-made Warrior Eagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is displayed before the opening of the Airshow China 2008 Zhuhai, China on November 3, 2008 (Photo: Reuters)

Satellite image reveals China's uncrewed CAV with 137-feet wing span

Explore Blueprint Defence by Business Standard — your authoritative source for analysis on India’s defence sector, military strategy, and global geopolitics. Stay ahead with sharp, policy-driven insights.

Kanti Bajpai

C Uday Bhaskar

Sugata Bose

Ajay Darshan Behera

Jawed Ashraf

Sumit Ganguly

Ajai Malhotra

Arvind Kumar

The future in the present: AI in the armed forces

A return to spheres of influence in Venezuela

3D-printed military structures dot the Himalayas

How India can lead the Global South

Kanti Bajpai

Cyber war without a strategy

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