
Broadsword
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Broadsword is a blog by an Indian Journalist and retired Colonel of the Indian Army, Ajai Shukla about Defence strategy, economics, news, and stuff.
Broadsword
1w ago
Aero India 2025 will showcase two fifth-generation fighter aircraft - the Russian Su-57 and the American F-35 Lightning II
By Ajai Shukla
9th Feb 2025
The 15th edition of Aero India 2025, Asia’s biggest aerospace and defence exhibition, will be inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru on February 10, 2025.
Participation of over 900 exhibitors and 90 countries will make it the biggest-ever Aero India. Defence Ministers from 30 countries and over 100 OEMs will attend.
Aero India 2023 was attended by 27 d ..read more
Broadsword
1w ago
Glimpses of the air show at Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru, ahead of the 15th Aero India show
which begins on February 10th
Indian Air Force does a final rehearsal of the inauguration fly-past at the air show in Bengaluru at the 15th Aero India, which begins on February 10 ..read more
Broadsword
2w ago
By Ajai Shukla
The Wire, 1st Feb 25
Defence allocations as percentage of GDP
(in Rupees crores)
2020-21 (Actual)
2021-22 (Actual)
2022-23 (Actual)
2023-24 (Actual)
2024-25 (RE)
2025-26 (BE)
Total Defence Expenditure
4,84,736
5,00,681
5,73,098
6,09,504
6,41,060
6,81,210
Central Government Expenditure
35,09,836
37,93,801
41,93,157
44,43,447
47,16,487
50,65,349
  ..read more
Broadsword
2w ago
India has become the fifth largest economy of the world during the period 2021 to 2024
By Ajai Shukla
31st January 2025
The Budget Session began today with the President's Address to both houses of Parliament. A team from PRS Legislative analysed the President's Address in June 2024 to the Parliament. This note highlights key announcements in the President's Address, and the latest status of the initiatives announced. Here are the key findings that you may find interesting:
1) In the last ten years, India has become the 5th largest economy and has grown at ..read more
Broadsword
2w ago
In the current year’s budget, less than 13% of government expenditure has been allocated to defence, continuing a multi-year trend of falling budgets
By Ajai Shukla
Indian Express, 30th Jan 25
The military’s financial planners are awaiting the Union Budget with bated breath. Since the month of September, their various arms, services, directorates and departments have been finalising their financial wish-lists for the year ahead. Soon they will know how much of that will be made available. All that is presently clear is that the military is not amongst the government’s top priorities ..read more
Broadsword
2w ago
Lieutenant generals will soon have an additional hoop to jump through before they get promoted
By Ajai Shukla
The Mint, 28th January 2025
Amongst the bold reforms that India’s military is embracing, its organizational structure will change from 17 single-service commands to a more functional and operationally responsive network of 3-5 tri-service theatre commands. To ensure that the army-led commands are headed by generals that the government considers suitable, the army is modifying its promotion policy at the highest levels. From 1 April, it will institute a “quantified assess ..read more
Broadsword
3w ago
Hypersonic missiles travel at speeds greater than Mach 5, that is five times the speed of sound, or more than 5,400 km/hr.
Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), a Hyderabad-based laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is going ahead with developing a long-duration Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (Scramjet) powered hypersonic technology.
DRDL recently developed these technologies and demonstrated a cutting-edge Active Cooled Scramjet Combustor ground test for 120 seconds for the first time in India. The successful ground te ..read more
Broadsword
3w ago
BLT drives up to a broken bridge and launches its bridge over a damaged segment
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a contract with Heavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi (HVF) -- a unit of Armoured Vehicle Nigam Limited (AVNL) -- for the procurement of 47 x Tank-72 Bridge Laying Tanks (BLT) for the Indian Army at a total cost of Rs 1,560.52 crore.
The contract was inked by senior officials of MoD and HVF/AVNL in the presence of Defence Secretary, Rajesh Kumar Singh, in New Delhi on January 21, 2025.
The BLT is a critical piece of equipment, employed by tank columns to la ..read more
Broadsword
1M ago
The three warships commissioned today -- INS Nilgiri, INS Surat and INS Vagsheer -- demonstrate India’s progress in indigenous shipbuilding
By Ajai Shukla
Mint, 15th January 2025
The three new warships commissioned into the Indian Navy on 15 January have all been built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL), India’s premier warship builder.
INS Surat is the fourth and final Visakhapatnam-class destroyer built under Project 15B; INS Nilgiri is the lead ship of Project 17A, a class of seven multi-role frigates; and INS Vagsheer is the sixth and final Scorpene-class submarine ..read more
Broadsword
1M ago
By Ajai Shukla
3rd January 2025
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), on its 67th Foundation Day on January 3rd, paid homage to one of its most venerated sons, former DRDO chief and President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
The current DRDO Chairman, Dr Samir V Kamat, laid bouquets at the bust of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who is widely revered as the “Missile Man of India”.
During the event, the DRDO Chairman released several important DRDO documents. These included a Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) on product development, a compilat ..read more