The real drone war is yet to come
Preparing for the future means thinking beyond the victories of Operation Sindoor
C Raja Mohan writes: India-Bhutan ties show how to get it right in a challenging neighbourhood
In a region often defined by mistrust and imbalance, India’s relationship with Bhutan shows that asymmetry need not produce antagonism
The Taliban’s Entry Into India-Pakistan Rivalry
Kabul’s flirt with New Delhi is a classic case of geopolitical logic.
C Raja Mohan writes: When Trump meets Xi, will a new global order emerge?
The so-called ‘global peace plan’ is unlikely to contain binding commitments or operational timelines. Rather, it will serve as a political document projecting the shared responsibility of Washington and Beijing […]
Recasting India’s Air Defence Architecture: Countering the Drone and Swarm Threat
This report argues that India’s traditional air defence (AD) architecture—reliant on expensive, centralized missile systems—is becoming obsolete against the proliferating threat of low-cost, autonomous drone swarms. The May 2025 “Operation Sindoor” crisis exposed a critical “cost asymmetry”: expending million-dollar interceptors against disposable $2,000 FPV drones is economically unsustainable, allowing adversaries to easily exhaust India’s magazine depth.
The New Cold War and Changing Regional Orders
The roundtable discussion will examine how shifting geopolitics—from the Trump–Xi accord to Middle Eastern realignments and a possible Russia–Ukraine ceasefire—are reshaping India’s strategic environment. It will assess implications for ASEAN, Gulf energy, IMEC, and how India balances BRICS+ ambitions with practical security and supply-chain partnerships like the Quad.