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Agneepath: Transforming Defense Recruitment.

The defense ministry of the Government of India, on 14th June 2022 announced the change in the Indian military recruitment model and hence announced the ‘Agneepath Scheme’ for stations below the rank of commissioned officers in all three wings of the military. This will be the only recruitment route for the military and all recruits will be hired for a fixed period of four years under a new military rank named ‘Agniveer’.

Central to the scheme, Indian youth is set to play a crucial role in realizing the dream of building an AatmaNirbhar, Sashakt Bharat. And Agnipath scheme will take them a step closer as claimed by the Indian government.

Many countries practice compulsory military conscription methodology to fuel the need of youth in their military resource pool. South Korea, for instance, establishes in its constitution the mandatory conscription of the male population between the ages of 18-35 for a period of 18 months of military service from where they may apply for permanent commission. The Agnipath Scheme although not identical but is similar to such conscription methodology, allows for both male and female aspirants of age group 17.5 to 23 years of age to apply for the military services for a fixed duration and have a prospect of permanent commission after the tenure granted that not more than 25 percent of the total strength of the retiring batch will be selected for the permanent cadre.

Amidst all the skepticism raised regarding the after-effects of this change, Major General Ashok Kumar was of the view that every change raises apprehensions in the beginning. “This scheme is transformational and will benefit both the armed forces and the country in an asymmetrical manner. It will bring down the current age profile of the frontline units from 32 years at present to 26 years in four-six years’ time.  Since the retention will be only 25 percent of the intake there will be a qualitative upgrade of the unit’s profile,” he said.

Army Veteran, Lieutenant General Raj Shukla was also supportive of the Agnipath scheme believing that this scheme was a part of a major National Security makeover. Numerous measures are being taken in procurement, innovation, OFB reforms, DRDO. The Agnipath scheme is a comprehensive reform that has 3 modules – Recruitment, Training, and re-enrollment. This is not just about the armed forces but it is a comprehensive scheme. The present recruitment system has gone obsolete as it is 70 years old where the emphasis is only on physical and medical. It is a modified and greatly improved system. The Agnipath scheme is linked further to ITIs and Skill India so that we get better recruits. And when we get better recruits, and as per the retention policy, we will retain the best of the best. All the candidates will go through focused and Scientific training modules in accordance with the global standards.

Further, Internationally Russia has followed a hybrid model of conscription and contract to recruit soldiers into their Armed Forces. Conscripts have a term of one year and are then put into reserve. As of 2021, all male citizens aged 18–27 are subject to conscription for one year of active duty military service in the Armed Forces. New conscripts undergo up to eight months of training before being sent to designated units. Conscription seasons run twice a year in Russia – from 1 April until 15 July (spring) and between 1 October and 31 December (autumn). During these periods, men aged between 18 and 27, with no health issues or outstanding convictions could be called on to serve. The youth of France join the Armed Forces, called the Forces armées françaises, on a voluntary and contractual basis. The volunteer can sign a one-year contract, which can be extended to five years. Soldiers are given training for three months and those who serve for over 19 years are eligible for the state pension.

Conclusion

There are various contractual conscription processes for military services in many countries around the world but most of these countries have mandatory conscription of the young by law. The Agneepath scheme ensures the voluntary enlistment nature of the Indian military but at the same time provides the benefit of retaining the polished recruits among the many who enter the Agniveer program. Thus, ensuring the quality of the cadets entering the main forces.

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The Race to Conquer: New Technology Revolutionizing Wars

People have witnessed conflicts as a result of the race for power. These battles have shown a persistent underlying need to remain on top while absolving oneself of all responsibility for the collateral damage that results. 

World War I, was the first modern mechanised industrial war, in which material resources and manufacturing capabilities were just as important as military competence. Machine guns, tanks, motorised transport vehicles, high explosives, chemical weapons, aeroplanes, field radios and telephones, aerial reconnaissance cameras, and quickly improving medical technology and research were only a few of the sectors that transformed twentieth-century combat. The new military technology was chronicled as completely as any other part of the conflict by the AEF painters. The first large-scale use of aerial warfare occurred during World War I. Killing from afar became more effective with the development of sea and aerial weaponry. Ship-mounted guns could fire at targets up to twenty miles inland. German submarines’ stealth and speed provided them a significant edge in their control of the North Sea. 

During World War II, both sides, the axis and the allies worked tirelessly to develop increasingly complicated and lethal weaponry. Throughout the war, nations developed more sophisticated aircraft, culminating in the Messerschmitt Me262, the world’s first jet fighter. On the ground, extremely powerful tanks like the Panther and T-34 ruled the battlefield, while at sea, technologies like sonar helped remove the danger of U-boats, and aircraft carriers ruled the waters. Perhaps most importantly, with the Little Boy bomb launched on Hiroshima, the United States became the first country to produce nuclear weapons.

The demands on a nation’s resources are immense during wartime. From supplies to military people, these resources are all available. Fighting a war is costly and thus imposes a cost on the population of a country. People left behind must labour even harder to protect the nation’s infrastructure from collapse while warriors march off to combat. War, on the other hand, may have a positive impact on technical progress. In general, conflicts build up a tendency to speed up technical progress in order to adapt instruments to meet specific military requirements.                                                                                 

With the world watching as nations demonstrate advanced warfighting capabilities, military drone use will grow significantly, led by the widespread adoption of surveillance and attack UAVs across the world. The expanding size and capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be a force multiplier for naval operations in the near future, thanks to increased investment in procurement, research, and development. As AI technology improves, these UAVs will be able to carry out increasingly complex missions. The most appealing feature of a UAV is that it is unmanned. When a person is added to a machine, it loses its design and operating flexibility. Furthermore, unmanned systems are best suited to long-duration missions involving strongly defended targets, which are more dangerous for manned operations.

Countries with limited defence budgets can improve their airpower by investing more in drones rather than expensive human combat aircraft. As technology advances, low-cost drones will take to the sky and the oceans. Small and medium combat UAVs offer a cost-effective boost to the country’s air capabilities on the tactical front line with little escalation when deployed in large numbers.

World Outlook:               

For over two decades, the United States has used armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Since 1995, the American Predator drone has been in service and assisted in recognising and marking Osama bin Laden’s presence in Afghanistan in 2000. The incident had accelerated the development of weapons-carrying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The MQ-9 Reaper, produced by General Atomics, is America’s primary combat drone, which the Air Force has employed to assist missions around the world for over a decade.

Israel is the world’s leading supplier of drones. Harpy drones were sold to China for $55 million in 1994 by Israel. Israel since then has delivered UAVs worth $4.6 billion to Europe, Asia, and the United States since then. Israel exports drones to 56 countries. The IAI Heron, on the other hand, is meant to compete with the Reaper. According to a database developed by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Israel accounted for 41% of all drones exported between 2001 and 2011.                                        

Indian Outlook:

India has been making significant progress into the procurement and development of UAVs. The nation has recently procured 50 Heron unmanned aerial vehicles from Israel. India is also looking at US-made MQ-9 Reaper drones. The indigenous Rustom II, a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) combat drone created by DRDO, is in development. Rustom II may carry a variety of payloads, such as made gap radar, electronic insight frameworks, and situational mindfulness frameworks. The UAV is similar to the American Predator UAV and has a 24-hour autonomy. The UAV may carry a variety of payloads, including synthetic aperture radar, electronic intelligence systems, and situational awareness payloads, among otachers. Due to the creation and testing of domestic drones, India is the leading customer of drones.                             

Conclusion:

Proliferation threats via the international weapons market are increasing, as is the potential that more nations may deploy drones for military reasons at home and in neighbouring countries, as countries as different as Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Russia, and China engage in their own military drone programmes. Drone use on the ground and/or against a suspected hostile neighbour raises the possibility of reprisal and additional military escalation, albeit not necessarily to full-scale war. However, the proliferation of drones is only a step away from an anticipated drone arms race, which has already been hinted at by recent breakthroughs in anti-drone defence systems as well as stealth drones.

Drones will increasingly be perceived as serving national and international security goals better than expeditionary campaigns as drone technology progresses and proliferates. However, the temptation for more countries to employ drones more frequently will not necessarily make the globe a safer or less violent place.

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India deepening its ties with Israel.

Introduction:

In 1992, India and Israel established full diplomatic ties, and the two nations’ bilateral relationship has since bloomed on economic, military, agricultural, and political levels. Both nations perceive themselves as isolated democracies endangered by neighbors that train, finance, and promote terrorism, hence their cooperative relationship is viewed as a strategic requirement by both. The relations were not always cordial. Despite the fact that both countries gained independence from the United Kingdom within months of each other, they have been heading in opposite directions for nearly four decades – India as a leader in the Non-Aligned Movement with close ties to the Arab world and the Soviet Union, and Israel with close ties to the United States and Western Europe.    

Both countries have reaped enormous benefits since establishing diplomatic ties. India has become one of Israel’s most important commercial partners, and many of the world’s best high-tech businesses are forming joint ventures in Israel and India that are effectively competing in the global market. Security-related transactions and help in sectors like agriculture and water desalination are now the mainstays of trade and collaboration between the two countries. The key to developing India-Israel ties, though, is security and defense cooperation. The Indian army announced its desire to execute a modernization program in the early 2000s, allocating tens of billions of dollars to the project. Since then, defense sales with Israel have increased at an exponential rate, and India is now Israel’s top export destination.

To give you an idea of how much commerce between Israel and India has grown, overall trade between the two countries was $200 million in 1992 and $4.13 billion in 2016. Without diamonds, Israel shipped $1.15 billion worth of commodities to India in 2016, accounting for 2.5 per cent of the country’s overall exports.

During Modi’s visit to the US in 2017, the two nations inked a number of collaboration agreements. The Israel Space Agency and the Indian Space Research Organization have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote collaboration in the development of electric propulsion systems for tiny satellites and the development of equipment to precisely monitor the severe conditions of space. Officials from Israel and India have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the India-Israel Innovation Initiative Fund (I4F). Over a five-year period, each of the two countries has pledged $4 million to I4F. Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries are among the Indian companies that inked eight trade agreements with Israeli enterprises. During Modi’s trip to Israel, the Asher Space Research Institute at the Technion and the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology inked a collaboration agreement. The goal of this agreement is to set up cooperative study and research initiatives.

The defence front:

In July 2020, both nations inked a cyber security pact in the age of fast digitalisation and increased exposure to the risks of the virtual world. As a first step, India and Israel are working together to establish secure systems and services to defend their civilian and strategic assets from ever-increasing cyber-attacks. It’s a key sign of the Indian government’s faith in Tel Aviv to collaborate on defensive technologies as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Initiative. 

The Indian Air Force recently introduced a medium-range surface-to-air missile (MRSAM) system capable of destroying aerial threats such as enemy fighter planes, missiles, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The MRSAM, or Barak 8 air defence system, was developed jointly by India and Israel and comprises modern radar, command and control systems, and mobile launchers. For maximum manoeuvrability in the terminal phase, the missile is propelled by a locally built rocket motor and control system.

Israel Aerospace Industries and the Defense Research and Development Organization collaborated to create the system (DRDO). Rafael, Bharat Electronics Limited, Bharat Dynamics Limited, and Larsen & Toubro are among the other companies collaborating on the project.

Over the previous four years, India and Israel have signed separate deals totalling roughly $3 billion for upgraded surface-to-air missile systems for the three services. Last year, India was compelled to speed up the procurement of military gear from various nations, including Israel, due to the continuous border confrontation with China in Ladakh, authorities claimed. As a result of a 2017 order worth $2 billion for advanced systems to take down hostile aircraft and missiles, India is sourcing Firefly loitering ammunition, Spike anti-tank guided missiles, Spice guidance kits that can be mounted on standard bombs to convert them into smart weapons, and an operational surface-to-air missile system from Israel.

Conclusion:

Even while the three-decade-old India–Israel defence alliance is expected to deepen and solidify in the coming years, India’s quest for defence self-reliance will have an influence on the relationship’s size. India has significant modernization demands, as well as the need to adequately address rising security concerns on both the internal and foreign fronts. For India’s security strategists, the all-encompassing Pakistan–China defence cooperation, which provides Islamabad with advanced weaponry and platforms, is just too significant to ignore. India’s defence partnership with Israel is also being looked at as a way to boost the country’s defence exports. BEL, for example, has indicated interest in forming a partnership with the IAI in order to increase the DPSU’s export profile. HAL partnered with IAI to market the Advanced Light Helicopter back in 2003. (ALH). It’ll be interesting to watch how BEL and the IAI go forward with this. The IAI has a well-established worldwide profile and marketing skills, which may be studied and learned from by Indian DPSUs and private sector enterprises.

A greater range of non-traditional fields, such as information and cybersecurity, water conservation, education, health, and research, are supporting ‘India-Israel 2.0.’ The strategic partnership’s elevation of connections aims to strengthen this nascent collaboration in new areas. PM Modi’s tricennial commemoration address echoed this attitude, with equal emphasis on developing geopolitics and mutual prospects. The fresh strategy will help individuals on both ends while also increasing and bolstering government trust.

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