This book examines India's nuclear strategy as it confronts the potential threat from both China and Pakistan. The potential threats - traditional as well as non-traditional CBRN threats - will be examined as will India's approach to dealing with them. India's nuclear arsenal, its dual purpose civil-military space program and its nascent BMD capability will be explored with a view to informing the reader as to the steps taken by India to confront its nuclear challenges. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

In 1984, the Indian Army carried out a stunning operation that captured the Siachen Glacier in the northernmost regions of what is now the Union Territory of Ladakh. Since that time, a full brigade of Indian troops has faced off against a similar number of Pakistani soldiers in the highest battlefield on earth. Sustained by a combination of tenuous road supply lines and air support, where helicopter manuals have had to be rewritten, the two countries have had numerous skirmishes that have escalated into the use of artillery fire. Operation Meghdoot tells the story of this conflict. Beginning with the trauma of partition and the first Kashmir war that saw the region divided between India and Pakistan, it progresses to the 1962 Sino-Indian war which saw the Aksai Chin region lost to China and the Shaksgam Valley unilaterally ceded by Pakistan to China. The consequence of this was to allow the development of the Karakoram Pass and highway to link China to Pakistan. In the aftermath of Pakistan's defeat in the 1971 war, the mapping of the area created sufficient confusion to enable both India and Pakistan to assert their respective claims. This eventually led to Operation Meghdoot which enabled India to secure the entire Siachen glacier, pre-empting Pakistan's Operation Abadeel. Operation Meghdoot examines the political, geographic and geopolitical imperatives that drove both sides towards conflict in this inhospitable area. The evolution of India's mountain divisions with their attendant expertise is discussed as well as the air support capabilities available to both sides. Operation Meghdoot itself is discussed in detail including its planning and execution, and the conflict since 1984 is chronicled with an emphasis upon the military engagements, the use of air power and the struggle of both armies to adapt and cope with the environment. Finally, the implications of India's hold on the Siachen Glacier is analysed with respect to its position against a hostile Pakistan and an increasingly hostile China. Operation Meghdoot includes 80 photos, 10 maps and diagrams, and 15 colour profiles.

In 1999, less than one year after both countries tested nuclear weapons, India and Pakistan found themselves locked in another armed conflict. In spite of a ray of hope for peace in February 1999, when the Indian Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, visited Pakistan and signed the Lahore declaration, by April 1999, the two countries were effectively at war. From the prospect of improved relations and a chance for a peaceful resolution of differences, within one month the subcontinent was plunged into another war. In a brilliant tactical plan, Pakistan launched Operation Badr which saw a brigade sized force of Pakistan Army troops and Islamist militants infiltrate into Indian controlled territory. Supported by Pakistani artillery and well provided with small arms, mortars, and anti-aircraft weapons, these infiltrators were able to entrench along ridgelines with commanding positions over Indian lines of supply and communications. Once realizing the seriousness of the situation, the Indian government ordered its armed forces into a ponderous, but ultimately successful effort to evict the invaders. Facing treacherous terrain, and a well-supplied and entrenched enemy, the Indian Army troops supported by artillery and air force clawed their way up mountain heights to capture fortified enemy positions. 'Kargil 1999' is the first ever military history of this conflict in the English language. It examines the political and strategic situation in the run-up to the conflict, the precarious position of the Indian government, and the disconnect between the Pakistani civilian government and its armed forces. Moreover, it provides a detailed review of the state of the Indian and Pakistani armed forces as of 1998-1999, with particular attention to their organization, orders of battle, their air forces and air defence networks. Because the Kargil War of 1999 was the first conflict during which both India and Pakistan were in possession of nuclear weapons, this account provides a detailed review of their related potentials - including stocks of fissile materials, and delivery systems (manned aircraft and the burgeoning indigenous ballistic missile programs of increasing sophistication). Finally, 'Kargil 1999' provides a detailed account of ground combat, which culminated in the Indian infantry storming the heights occupied by the Pakistani infantry, while supported by artillery and air force. Illustrated by more than 100 photographs, maps, and authentic colour artworks, 'Kargil 1999' offers a military perspective of the first confrontation of the two declared nuclear powers of South Asia - a conflict that tested their political, military, diplomatic, and nuclear resolve.

Trinidad has the distinction of contributing the highest number of recruits per capita to the cause of notorious 'Islamic State'. The case of Trinidad and Tobago (usually abbreviated 'Trinidad') makes for an interesting study as on the face of it, a well-integrated Muslim population, a strong welfare state and an absence of political persecution on any religious or racial basis should not provide fertile recruiting ground for Jihadist ideology. However, the converse is most certainly the case as not only is attraction to such extremist causes growing but the numbers of Trinidadian nationals willing to fight for IS is also increasing. What is happening in Trinidad is symptomatic of a broader problem as Jihadi groups have widened their reach where apparently unconnected groups can now ally with the ideology and resource bases of better known groups without formally being part of them. The flirtation with Islamist ideology on Trinidad dates back many years and through a combination of incompetence, political naivete and unfortunate compromises. Indeed, the country faced the only Islamist coup in the entire Latin America - Caribbean region and the hemisphere. On 27 July 1990, a radical Afro-Trinidadian Islamist group, the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, led by Imam Yasin Abu Bakr - an Afro-Trinidadian convert to Islam previously known as Lennox Philip, and a former policeman - launched an armed insurrection with 113 of his followers. Their attack quickly sacked the entire leadership of the local government: the then Prime Minister of Trinidad, Arthur N.R. Robinson, most of his cabinet and several opposition Members of Parliament, plus the staff of the government-owned television and radio networks were held hostage for six dramatic days. The Parliament Building, the television and radio studios were occupied by armed insurgents and were severely damaged during the standoff with security forces that ensued. The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service collapsed within the first hour of the insurrection, abandoning the capital city, Port of Spain, and the military took hours to assemble a viable fighting force. This book details the background to the dramatic events of July 1990 as well as the insurrection itself and the highly successfully military operation that quelled it. It was a coming of age for the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force which, without requiring external intervention, contained and then defeated an Islamist uprising. Trinidad 1990 is illustrated by more than 100 authentic photographs from local archives, maps and colour profiles, all of which serve to illustrate what became a little-known, yet highly-successful operation against international jihadism.

The Armed Forces of the English-speaking Caribbean have a rich, albeit brief history. This book will cover their story from the post-Second World War West India Regiment to the independence of the former British Colonies in the 1960s and 1970s. The failed West India Federation led directly to the formation of the national armed forces of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados while Guyana's forces had their roots in Police Special Services Units and a Volunteer Force. Shortly after Independence, Guyana's armed forces found themselves in a border conflict with Suriname as well as a far less salubrious operation to support a corrupt and racist government through rigged elections. Trinidad found itself facing a mutiny in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, redemption only coming for the force in 1990 when it played a stellar role in quelling an Islamist insurrection. Barbados and Jamaica's armed forces had a more subdued history, supporting police forces but playing an important role in the intervention in Grenada in 1983. The Bahamas, unique in having a naval force as its primary military unit, had the dubious distinction of having one of its patrol boats sunk by Cuban MiG-21s in 1980. This book, besides the historical background to the five armed forces in question, will examine the evolution, equipment and current status and plans of these forces. This includes the complete recapitalization of the Jamaica Defence Force, the resurrection of the Bahamas Defence Force as a capable naval unit, the decline and deliberate neglect of the Guyana Defence Force and the revival and near collapse of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force. Each country has a unique political, and in the case of Trinidad& Tobago and Guyana, racial, history and these have contributed, at least in part, to the evolution and employment of their respective armed forces.

In 1988, the Indian Army and Air Force, ably supported by the Indian Navy, carried out a daring intervention in the Maldives. Facing an attempted coup by a renegade group of Tamil insurgents from Sri Lanka, the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), the government of the Maldives, led by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom sent out a request for help, to which India responded. Operation Cactus details this, India's most ambitious out of area intervention to date. Starting with a background of the Maldives, the book describes the history, economy, demography and politics of the islands with an emphasis on the government of the day and the strategic value of the islands to PLOTE as well as the geopolitical ramifications for India in respect to the need to secure its influence in the area. Operation Cactus details the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, with particular emphasis on elements that could be used in out of area interventions. The transport assets of the Indian Air Force and the amphibious capabilities of the Indian Navy of the time are particularly noted. Special importance is given to the 54th Air Assault Division, the 340th Independent Brigade, 50th Parachute Brigade, the Paracommandos and the Marine Commando Force along with a brief history of each of these forces and their combat history, their ORBAT in 1988 and their status today. The Maldives National Security Service of 1988 is also discussed and its evolution into the Maldives National Defence Force in the aftermath of the 1988 coup. The PLOTE attempt to overthrow the Gayoom government is discussed with the resistance it faced from the NSS. Operation Cactus itself, the intervention by India, is detailed with the operational planning, the mobilization of forces and the force levels committed all discussed. The actual landing in the Maldives, the paucity of intelligence and the force selection are detailed along with the confrontation with PLOTE. Finally, the flight of the PLOTE insurgents will be discussed as they sought to escape via sea. Their surveillance by Indian Navy MR aircraft as well as their interception by the Indian Navy are described, along with their final confrontation with Indian Naval special forces.

Since the 1998 nuclear tests and the publication of India's Nuclear Doctrine, India has continued to face endemic security challenges from both China and Pakistan. The latter, through the apparent induction of tactical nuclear weapons into the equation and a rapid expansion of its fissile material production capacity has introduced an additional complication into Indian security calculations while China has become increasingly assertive and intransigent in its conduct towards its neighbours, India included. In light of an evolving challenge, India's nuclear strategy, predicated on a credible minimum deterrence threshold needs to be looked at in light of the prospect of lowered nuclear thresholds in the case of Pakistan as well as potential coercive nuclear posturing from China. In neither case can nuclear strategy be divorced from conventional military strategy as any operation - offensive or defensive - will now have to be carried out with the potential of nuclear escalation in mind. Nuclear India details the evolution of India's nuclear journey, from the 1960s to the present day, the historical events leading to the 1974 nuclear test, the reluctant nuclearization that occurred thereafter and the first phases of an operational nuclear deterrent in the late 1980s. By detailing the weapons and delivery systems developed, this book evaluates India's deterrent posture as it exists at present and its current evolutionary path. The speculated shape, size and composition of India's current deterrent is examined, including a detailed discussion of India's Ballistic missile programs, its air launched and ground based cruise missiles and its growing SSBN/SLBM capability. In addition, Nuclear India includes details of ballistic missile defences as well as the practicality of enhanced preparedness against decapitating or paralyzing EMP strikes and unconventional nuclear threats. Nuclear India examines India's nuclear doctrine and assess its credibility as India moves inexorably towards a nuclear triad.