India needs many more warships, but must first choose between consolidation and competition in shipbuilders

An Indian Navy ship at the Mazagon Dock in Mumbai

Business Standard

satellites, operational satellites, orbit, India

India is reported to have 57 operational satellites in orbit as of December 2025.

The RAAF currently operates a fleet of six Wedgetail aircraft, which serve as Australia's primary airborne early-warning and command platforms.

australia, australia aircraft, Iran war, austarlia defence

Takaichi is committed to enhanced defence expenditure, already at 2 per cent of GDP but likely to go up to 3 per cent

Political opinion in Japan has been divided between those who seek a revision of the Constitution, particularly Article 9 (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)

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)

China is developing counterspace capabilities, which are a major component of militarising space.

A Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft blasts off in Gansu province, China, in October 2025

First, in terms of its ideational outlook, India will need to position itself as a stronger regional net security provider

An Indian army tank moves during an army exercise (File Photo: Reuters)

In 2018, India and Myanmar signed an agreement on land border crossing with the aim to facilitate regulation and harmonisation of already existing free movement rights.

Myanmar, Shan State Army, military parade, Myanmar Soldiers

Soldiers of the Shan State Army march during a military parade in Loi Tai Leng, Shan State, Myanmar

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Representational image (Imaging: Ajaya Mohanty)

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

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

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

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

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

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 > > > >

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)

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

The US pressure has cast a shadow on India's strategic bet on the Chabahar Port

Chabahar is an important component of the INSTC (PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK)

As Xi ousts his top military general and controls both the party and the gun, Taiwan's anxiety escalates unprecedentedly high levels

Internally in China, as mentioned, the purging of General Zhang Youxia will send shockwaves through the PLA and the Communist Party itself. (Photo: reuters)

Internally in China, as mentioned, the purging of General Zhang Youxia will send shockwaves through the PLA and the Communist Party itself.

Archival records reveal whether India violated the Cirus deal with Canada for a 'peaceful nuclear experiment'

Representational image (Photo: Reuters)

Assessing if India can bear a relatively higher expenditure within a constrained fiscal space

light combat aircraft Mk1A, Rafale-M, LCA Prachand

The Union Budget 2026-27, allocated Rs 7.85 lakh crore to the MoD (PHOTO: HAL)

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)

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

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 > > >

Susannah Patton, one of the architects of the Asia Power Index and director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute speaks to BS Blueprint

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

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

The Blueprint Podcast with Sven Biscop

The STC forces execute an operation against Saudi-PLC coalition in Abyan, Yemen, in December 2025

The latest military weapons from around the world

Viper shield for F-16 (Photo: L3Harris)

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 plans come just months after Operation Sindoor, which saw extensive information warfare, disinformation campaigns and the first instance of large-scale drone warfare in the subcontinent

BSF, Army, Soldier, Indian Army

Government says requests from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives for oil supplies are under review, with decisions to factor in India's refining capacity and domestic demand

crude oil, oil sector

The statement came hours after reports emerged that Iran agreed to allow oil tankers flying the Indian flag to pass through the Strait following diplomatic discussions between New Delhi and Tehran

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with Russia's Sergey Lavrov and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas as the West Asia conflict disrupts energy supplies

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Wednesday inaugurated two new Indian consulates in Russia, stating that the expanded presence would act as a “catalyst” in efforts to boost trade and improve ties in various sectors such as tourism, tec

EAM S Jaishankar

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the incidents involved Indian nationals working on merchant ships and that authorities are monitoring the situation

A Mig-27ML being armed for a mission during the Kargil War in 1999

In Warhead, Nicholas Wright turns the spotlight away from hard power to the human mind.

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)

Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and France emerge as top export destinations

US no longer top destination for India’s aerospace exports

US no longer top destination for India's aerospace exports

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

Photo: Shutterstock

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

Representational image (Photo: Shutterstock)

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

Graphics by the Blueprint design team

Equipped with pre-fragmented or penetration-blast warheads

India conducted release trials of long-range glide bomb 'Gaurav' last year.

India's capabilities need a unified architecture

The D4, a counter-drone system developed by the DRDO

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)

Pralay, a surface-to-surface quasi-ballistic missile with a range of 150 to 500 km

Pralay follows depressed trajectory to reduce detection time (Photo: PIB)

In the lead-up to the US-Israeli attack, President Trump downplayed the risks to the energy markets as a short-term concern that should not overshadow the mission to decapitate the Iranian regime

Donald Trump, Trump

It's unclear if the US is willing to give Iran such a pledge and if it would be able to insist on Israel doing the same

Masoud Pezeshkian

Bloomberg

US intelligence reports indicate that the IRGC and the interim leaders who assumed power after Khamenei's death retain control of the country

Iran, Iran flag

Reuters

The US president described the action as a limited military move intended to counter threats from Iran

Outdated targeting data may have resulted in a mistaken missile strike, according to the ongoing military investigation, which undercuts President Trump's assertion that Iran could be to blame

US Israel strike Iran

A Dark Matter

The strategic side of India-US ties is largely unaffected. So far

Personnel from the Indian and the US armies interact during Exercise Yudhabhyas held in the United States in 2025

On the mend or not

A fork in the road for defence shipyards

The Iran quagmire

Inside China's military upheaval: Power struggle or consolidation?

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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)

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

3D-printed military structures dot the Himalayas

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)

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

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

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)

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.

A Dark Matter

On the mend or not

A fork in the road for defence shipyards

The Iran quagmire

Inside China's military upheaval: Power struggle or consolidation?

Shyam Saran

Arvind Kumar

Sugata Bose

Ajay Darshan Behera

Jawed Ashraf

S L Narasimhan

Constantino Xavier

Sanjiv Krishan Sood

SPOTLIGHT

Analysis

Multimedia

Key Projects

Indian aerospace exports surge amid a slump in US shipments

Market radar: January 20, 2026 to February 20, 2026

US leads in top 100 defence firms, China marks rise

Market radar: December 22, 2025 to January 22, 2026

Defence spending rises, but not its share in GDP