Kunal Singh

The Great Indian Diplomatic Debate, 2026: Govt: stays silent because it hasn't developed capabilities for its words to matter; Opposition: believes that the morality of words matters and, so, urges speaking up. Doesn't believe in capabilities. Both united against capabilities.

The neglect of national security has been nothing short of criminal. When you have sold the चूरन of muscular nationalism so successfully, you can get away with not investing in national security.

@VatsRishap We should ask the United States to provide protection to our tankers. After all, we listen to its demands on where to buy oil from and how much to import from them. We behave like good boys-- we now have the certificate. Should at least get protection for tankers in return?

As I was saying, trigger happy folks who have little interest in actually finding a solution and more interested in “picking a side” in this war (America’s side), sometimes fail to grasp why looking like or being America’s sidekick in very situation isn’t always the best option.

It hardly matters if India condemns/supports/stays neutral. The only thing India should do is to study the weapons, tactics, & strategies being used in the war. That we are spending so much effort on choosing the words to respond with is a testament to our real inadequacies.

@lakshya_sen Well done! Rooting for you to cross the final hurdle soon :)

Overwhelmed with the support. The encouragement means a lot and inspires me to do better. Missed the target this time but I absolutely gave my all. Good things are coming I'm sure. Thank you all! 🙌

@somnath1978 I will respond when you have something substantial to say.

@d_extrovert As opposed to a non-sequitur, albeit in line w/popular sentiment?;)

This👇is not true, by a long mile. US has sovereign right to impose tariffs + trade conditions. India has a sovereign right to abide by or ignore conditions. A putative trade deal, no longer that putative anyway, doesnt chg baseline 101 of decisions and their cost-benefit eqn..

India agreed to a humiliating deal, giving up sovereign decision-making on trade with a third country and its energy policies. Today, it is once again clear that it was a bad deal. The US is dictating where India will buy its energy from.

@FathomsOne @cvkrishnan True, shallow water is bad for longer-range passive acoustics detection. I was wondering whether the RAP arrays solve the problem to some extent by covering a smaller conical area directly above them.

@d_extrovert @cvkrishnan Ah - the coastline = shallow water = bottom interference = not effective at all. Arrays work best in deeper waters - choke points are ideal like the GIUK gap. There was some talk of Indo-Japanese collaboration on an array near A & N but I don't know where that stands, or sits!

Sinking an Iranian Naval ship this close to Indian territory looks good on India? No. But that’s just izzat maxing commentary. India has no way to know a USN sub was there in the vicinity. India doesn’t patrol ASW missions on every inch of Indian Ocean to be able to track every sub. The decision to sink the Iranian frigate would’ve been taken only in last 24 hrs based on how Iran was escalating in the Gulf. Now on the relationship side, ppl expect US to inform India before it hits the frigate or what? Maybe it did. If not in SL EEZ it would’ve been in Arabian Sea. Doesn’t make us look any better if one is focused on izzat. This is how power differential plays out in real time. What should India’s response be? Kadi ninda? Or ASW patrols in near seas? What does that achieve? Better focus our resources will and energy on our core interests which is to protect SLOC for our trade. End of the day it’s the Wild West. And it is clearly contact sport. Even protecting one’s own core interest without taking sides requires in to enter the arena with a gun not sit out and expect to be taken seriously. If you want to play sphere of influence games that should be built in credible continuous play for years to show the influence. Not talk shops like Indian Ocean Rim Association or SAGAR.

@FathomsOne @cvkrishnan Also, happy to take the conversation elsewhere. I am guessing that at least some of these topics are not suitable to discuss online in public.

@FathomsOne @cvkrishnan Thanks! I get your point-- it would be vulnerable in an adversarial context, which was not the case here. Should India not plant RAP arrays along its entire coastline? Perhaps it does. If it doesn't, what is the constraint?

@cash19701 @cvkrishnan Sir, if you could be more specific, please.

@d_extrovert @cvkrishnan Please, your post is not correct.

@FathomsOne @cvkrishnan Thanks-- very useful! How shallow would be shallow for active sonar? A quick search shows a depth of 3 km+ in the area where the ship was sunk. I am told that this is sufficient for passive sonar (subject to background noise, of course). Is it low for active sonar?

@d_extrovert @cvkrishnan Not technically feasible. Active sonar arrays in shallow waters have ridiculously low detection ranges. No way India would have known the presence of an SSN off Galle unless informed by the US. It is also not a traditional patrol area for the IN-so close to SL TS.

@saxenaamit7404 @cvkrishnan Where did you find me blaming India?

@d_extrovert @cvkrishnan More correct analysis would be Iranian crew knew about US Navy presence in Indian ocean & on going war. And sailing through such water was always a fatal thing. Stop blaming India. Possible India had alarmed them but such things can’t be disclosed in open.

@dinesh161_singh @cvkrishnan There is now archival material. But you may want to start with Long and Green's paper, "Stalking the Secure Second Strike." If you are interested in more, please reach out separately through email, and we can talk.

@d_extrovert @cvkrishnan I have worked 3 decades + in this field. I am amazed at your statement.

@cvkrishnan @brigarunsahgal @HelyD25 As the defending party and near home base, we have advantages we can exploit in ASW. We can use visible assets and active sonars in a way the PLAN SSN cannot. The USN is a completely different beast.

Afaik we have coastal surveillance radars for surface vessel tracking across Makices Sri Lanka. I don’t think we have a sea bed network closer to our EEZ and the plan was to have one in eastern Indian Ocean. Otherwise we were depending on passive radars an sonobuoys dropped from P-8Is in pursuit of PLAN subs. Just guessing.

@dinesh161_singh @cvkrishnan You might be surprised to learn the extent to which the US Navy does peacetime 24x7 tracking of Russian and Chinese submarines.

@d_extrovert @cvkrishnan No one (IN/USN/PLAN...anyone) tracks underwater threats everywhere, all the time &certianly not in internationalwaters. Its just not possible.

@brigarunsahgal @HelyD25 @cvkrishnan I think an ASW expert from the IN should weigh in, but my guess is that we didn't pick it up bcoz we probably don't do active sonar sweeps as regularly as we should. There are other ways, like using passive seabed sonars, but don't think we do that either. But I am only guessing.

@d_extrovert @HelyD25 @cvkrishnan This happened in our backwater, after Fleet Review. We should have known the presence of US sub (at least I hope). You are correct we should have picked up active sonar, taken steps to warn Iranian ship (conjectural). If we did not pickup, this is even worse.

@khabdoda @cvkrishnan Unfortunately, India is not so important that the US would consider sending a message beyond just sinking the ship they wanted to sink.

@d_extrovert @cvkrishnan It was done intentionally as a message is sent to India too . It is very very loud and clear 😀. We may not like it but it is what it is .

@cvkrishnan That would depend on the range we get on active sonar in different maritime environments. I would use active sonar from coastal bases and from all surface vessels (they can't reveal their positions anymore, as they are already visible to radar and satellites).

@d_extrovert Active sonar too only if we were patrolling in the region right?