Hamlet

The Kinetic Actions from 7 th-10 th May 2025 should make us ask ourselves only one question: Were they successful in changing/ mitigating the feral behaviour of the Pakistani Military that now fully own’s a piece of real estate called Pakistan ? This is the only question that really matters. The rest is whataboutery.

As we celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of Operation Sindoor and salute the achievements of our armed forces, it would be useful to recall the following: 1. The first announcement of the cease fire that halted Operation Sindoor unexpectedly was made at 5:37 PM IST on May 10 2025 by the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who claimed that it was intervention by President Trump that had made this possible. Subsequently, the US President has repeated this claim over a hundred times in different countries without ever having been refuted even once by his good friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 2. The Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan made a statement in Singapore on May 30 2025 where he had said that India had suffered initial losses as a result of tactical errors but that after review and correction, India was able to understand the tactical mistakes and return with precision strikes deep inside Pakistan, demonstrating resilience and adaptability. 3. On June 10 2025, in a seminar in Jakarta, the Defence Attache in the Indian embassy in Indonesia acknowledged that India had lost aircraft on May 7 2025 because of the constraints laid down by its political leadership. 4. The Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. General Rahul Singh made a statement on July 4 2025 that had drawn pointed attention to China’s very deep role in Pakistan’s response to Operation Sindoor providing - in addition to critical equipment and ammunition - live inputs including satellite imagery and real-time targeting support. Yet, the Modi Govt’s calibrated capitulation to China continues unabated, including the loss of traditional patrolling rights in Ladakh, record Chinese imports, relaxation of FDI norms, etc. 5. In spite of extensive diplomatic outreach by India, Pakistan did not get isolated as it had been following the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008. On the contrary, its army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir has been embraced with extraordinary warmth by President Trump from June 2025 onwards and the world’s leading sponsor of cross-border terrorism, namely Pakistan, has come in for praise from the US military establishment. It also bears recall that just a few days after the Kargil War ended in July 1999, the Vajpayee Govt. had set up a four-member Kargil Review Committee chaired by the country's strategic affairs guru K. Subrahmanyam (the father of the External Affairs Minister) to examine the sequence of events and recommendations for the future. It submitted its report titled "From Surprise to Reckoning" on January 7, 2000. The report was tabled in Parliament on February 23, 2000.

Battlefield Success, Political Failure The May 7–10, 2025, Operation Sindoor demonstrated the Indian Air Force’s ability to strike deep inside Pakistan with near impunity, while the Indian Navy’s deployment of a carrier battle group in the northern Arabian Sea served as a powerful instrument of compellence, imposing a virtual blockade. Equally consequential was the performance of India’s multi-layered air defenses, which largely neutralized Pakistani drone and missile swarms, shielding critical infrastructure. The military success came despite political missteps. Most troubling was the political directive to the Air Force to strike only terrorist-training camps while avoiding military installations. This violated the first principle of air warfare: neutralize the enemy’s air defenses at the outset. The blunder contributed to the avoidable loss of some Indian warplanes in the opening phase — what India’s chief of defense staff, Gen. Anil Chauhan, later described as a “tactical mistake” that was quickly “rectified.” India’s defense attaché in Jakarta similarly told a university seminar that India initially lost some aircraft “only because of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack (Pakistan’s) military establishments and their air defenses.” The political leadership also displayed striking strategic naïveté — first by conveying to Pakistan just 30 minutes after the launch of Operation Sindoor that India was prepared to suspend the campaign if the adversary refrained from reprisal strikes. It then publicly declared that India had achieved its strategic objectives by hitting largely empty terrorist-training camps. After the Pahalgam terrorist massacre, India waited 15 days before launching Operation Sindoor, giving Pakistan time to disperse assets and prepare reprisals. Then, just three and a half days later, the political leadership abruptly accepted a ceasefire, with New Delhi announcing the truce nearly 100 minutes after it had already taken effect. It was President Trump who first announced a "full and immediate" ceasefire.

The BJP, doesn't buy FTB for the Kaveri. It is the job of the Project Director to make a nuisance of himself at Raisina durbar. The Tejas never lacked for funds- on that score you could not fault them . My take on TEDBF is that without the carrier it is a chicken and egg problem

India has never had a true carrier program. Despite pre-1947 "plans" to have upto four. If you have no strategic and doctrinal clarity and commitment to build 3 more carriers in the next 50 years, carrier-aviation will naturally suffer. Funding is downstream of clarity.

HAL successfully hosted the 6th Annual Indian Navy–HAL Apex-Level Meeting in New Delhi on May 4, 2026. The event was co-chaired by Shri A K Shrivastava, Director (Engineering and R&D) and Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff.

BREAKING: Vietnam will use India's $500 million defence credit line to buy 12 fast patrol vessels, submarine batteries and upgrade its naval shps

Breaking INDIA CONFIRMS TALKS WITH VIETNAM ON BRAHMOS 'Watch this space', says MEA's Secretary East P Kumaran on Vietnam procuring Brahmos from India. Confirms that talks on Brahmos have taken place.

🇺🇸🇮🇷The U.S. expects Iranian responses on several key points in the next 48 hours. Nothing has been agreed yet, but the sources said this was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began 🇺🇸🇮🇷Yes, but: U.S. officials have expressed optimism about a deal at several points during previous rounds of negotiations and during the current war, but have yet to reach one