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Rahul Bedi

Rahul Bedi

Indian Express

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The IAF is Short of Fighters, Still Long on Promises

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: No detailed analysis or elaborate think-tank evaluation is needed to see that the Indian Air Force (IAF) presently...

19.09.2026 20

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Shoes, Uniforms, Salutes and the Slippage of Police Discipline

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: A policeman’s uniform and deportment are the ultimate badges of his office: the former identifies the wearer and...

16.09.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Military Veterans' Post-Retirement Truths: Because Speaking Up Whilst in Service is Far Too Risky

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: One of the enduring curiosities of Indian officialdom is how readily senior officials have ready answers to...

15.09.2026 20

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Blame the Driver For ‘Ruffiangiri’ and ‘Mafiagiri’, Not the Thar Jeep

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Few Indian motor vehicles have acquired quite the awesome baggage of the four-wheel-drive Mahindra Thar jeep. Once...

13.09.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

IAF's Rafale Boost Comes With a 5th-generation Fighter Dilemma

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The Indian Air Force (IAF) faces a serious operational dilemma as it fast-tracks the acquisition of 114 additional...

12.09.2026 20

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Three Fighter Programmes, One Shrinking Indian Air Force

Listen to this article: Seemingly oblivious to the massive financial commitments involved, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is currently considering an...

11.09.2026 20

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Will the Russian Su-57 Kill India's AMCA?

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The impending discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin on Friday (September...

10.09.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

GE Engines Arrive After Long Hiatus, Tejas Production Still Faces Backlog

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Three US-origin General Electric (GE) combat aircraft engines were finally delivered to Hindustan Aeronautics...

09.09.2026 20

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Decoding the Javelin ATGM Deal: Assembly in India, Technology in the US

Listen to this article: Sixteen years after the Indian Army first sought the US-origin Javelin anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) in 2010, with...

02.09.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

India’s Javelin ATGM Deal: Assembly in India, Technology in America

Listen to this article: Sixteen years after the Indian Army first sought the US-origin Javelin anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) in 2010, with...

02.09.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

What Punjab’s ‘Jugaad’ Rehris Can Teach the DRDO About Engines

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Undoubtedly, one of the most glaring and enduring failures of India’s defence industry has been its inability to...

31.08.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Indo-US Javelin Deal: Solution For India's Needs or Lollipop for Washington?

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: In what can only be described as a client-patron arrangement in the stark calculus of defence procurement, India...

29.08.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Mercy Dogs of the Great War

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Amid the usual torrent of recycled anecdotes, dubious quotations and mangled history was a brief video clip about...

26.08.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

China Goes Hunting for Rafale Lessons

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The Indian Air Force (IAF) will, no doubt, be closely evaluating China’s J-16 fighters going  up against the...

25.08.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

AK-203: The Russian Assault Rifle India now Calls Its Own

Chandigarh: Over the weekend, India once again demonstrated its ability to turn an imported weapon into an “indigenous” one, with the...

24.08.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

From Watchdogs to Stenographers: India’s Defence Press Corps

Listen to this article: There is something increasingly disturbing about how the Indian media, with rare exceptions, has covered defence issues in...

21.08.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Sikh Who Flew for Britain Before the RAF Existed

Listen to this article:  Chandigarh: Some 109 years before Flight Lieutenant Arshdeep Singh Dang was commissioned into the Royal Air Force (RAF),...

20.08.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The US Navy’s Newest Stress Reliever Has Four Legs

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The US Navy (USN) has devised an unconventional response to the psychological strain imposed on sailors, Marines...

19.08.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Quixotic State of Affairs Surrounding the Propulsion Conundrum of India's Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: For decades, India’s military aviation establishment has been burdened by a critical and enduring existential...

17.08.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Punjab That Partition Left Behind

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: For most Punjabis born after Independence – and certainly for anyone under the age of 60 today – Partition is...

16.08.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Medium Transport Aircraft’s Hidden Burden

Listen to this article: The Indian Air Force (IAF)’s Request for Proposal (RfP) for 60 Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA), estimated at around Rs 1...

15.08.2026 50

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Mother Superior: A Lesson in Strategy from the French Nuns of Ajmer

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Being an Assistant Master in my early twenties at Mayo College, Ajmer, was both a privilege and an adventure. Few...

13.08.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Too Many Four-Stars, Too Little Clarity on Who Commands the Commanders

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: There is growing speculation in military and strategic circles that the government may use Independence Day, or...

11.08.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

India’s 6th-Generation Fighter Ambitions Are Akin to Adding New Floors to a Weak Foundation

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: India seems to have arrived at the rather remarkable conclusion that the answer to its enduring combat aircraft...

10.08.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Costliest Delay in Indian Military History

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Remarkably, the Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) proposed Rs 3.25 lakh crore acquisition of 114 Dassault Rafale...

07.08.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Building Without Owning: India's Defence Intellectual Property Rights Dilemma

Listen to this article: India’s long-pending quest for self-reliance in the military sector remains trapped in a stubborn intellectual property...

07.08.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Privileged Urban's Whisper Becomes a Voice. Is It a Lasting Shift Against the BJP?

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The recent Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) campaign appears to have emboldened the silent majority among the malai...

05.08.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

When Satire Needed Ink, Nerve and Secrecy

Listen to this article: Long before social media, anonymous trolls and WhatsApp ‘forwards’ reduced irreverence and lampooning to little more than...

02.08.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

India-US Defence Ties: The Partnership that Stops at the Factory Gate

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: For over two decades, successive governments in New Delhi have proclaimed the United States as India’s “major...

28.07.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Gymkhana Club, Race Course and Polo Ground: India's Midnight Children and Their Vanishing World

Listen to this article: New Delhi: They are fast disappearing – one Gymkhana Club, one race course and one polo ground at a time, each a lingering...

19.07.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Questions That Need to Be Asked as BrahMos Emerges as India's Flagship Defence Export

Listen to this article: New Delhi: Few defence exports have attracted as much attention at home and abroad – or embodied as many geopolitical...

16.07.2026 50

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Long-Delayed Proposal For Integrated Theatre Commands and Its Many Pitfalls

Listen to this article: New Delhi: Having recently assumed office as India’s third Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), recommissioned General N.S. Raja...

13.07.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Will 'JAI Se VIJAY' Deliver? New Army Chief General Dhiraj Seth's Vision Faces Old Hurdles

Listen to this article: New Delhi: Like his predecessors, India’s newly appointed Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Dhiraj Seth, has sought to...

10.07.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

F414 Fiasco and its Ramifications

Listen to this article: New Delhi: Mounting uncertainty over India’s negotiations with the United States and General Electric (GE) over the F414...

09.07.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Paradox of Aatmanirbharta in India's Defence Policies

Listen to this article: New Delhi: For more than a decade, successive BJP-led governments have championed Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant) in the...

06.07.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Can the India-US Reciprocal Defence Negotiations Boost New Delhi’s Strategic Autonomy?

Listen to this article: New Delhi: Away from the headlines surrounding aero engines, fighter aircraft, advanced unmanned aerial vehicles, missile...

03.07.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The F414 Row Is the Price of India's Long Failure to Develop Its Own Jet Engines

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: What was once hailed as one of the most consequential defence technology agreements between India and the United...

26.06.2026 50

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Who Will Trust the Indian Passport if India Doesn't?

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: India’s bureaucracy has long been a global leader in administrative innovation, as nowhere else can a government...

25.06.2026 50

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

What's the Real Story Behind IAF's Rafale 'Bridge Support' Contract

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) recent tender issued to France’s Dassault Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines...

24.06.2026 50

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

As Jaipur Polo Ground Shuts, Delhi Loses Its Last Space Where Horses, Army and Heritage Coexisted

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The disappearance of the Jaipur Polo Ground from New Delhi’s public life marks more than just the loss of a...

23.06.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

How an Octogenarian Retired IPS Officer From Punjab Showed the World the Importance of Keeping Streets Clean

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: On June 23, when President Droupadi Murmu confers the Padma Shri for social service upon 88-year-old Inderjit...

21.06.2026 50

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Indian Military's Inventory is Bewilderingly Diverse – and Increasingly Hard to Sustain

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Amid endless plans and discussions to modernise India’s military, one issue that receives far less attention...

20.06.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

An Account of US and Its Failed Wars: Jimmy Carter Then, Donald Trump Now and Many in Between

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Few countries have done more to unsettle successive US presidents than Iran. Remarkably, it achieved this...

19.06.2026 50

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

India Is Importing More Retired British Jaguars to Keep Its Ageing Strike Fleet Airborne

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: In a move aimed at sustaining the operational capability of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) legacy Anglo-French...

18.06.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Modi Govt's Jaipur Polo Ground Takeover: Is It Linked to Post-Delimitation Parliament Expansion?

Listen to this article: The government’s recent takeover of the historic nearly century-old Jaipur Polo Ground in New Delhi passed off with...

17.06.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Making of the Aerodynamic Dhoti Mk-1

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The Indian Army’s recently introduced uniform regulations, widely understood to have been undertaken at the...

16.06.2026 50

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Aitchison College's Honour For Ex-Punjab CM Recalls a Deeper, Fast-Eroding Shared Memory

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The recent dedication of a classroom at Aitchison College in Lahore to former alumnus Harcharan Singh Brar, the...

15.06.2026 50

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

India-US Defence Ties Pair High Ambition With Slow Delivery

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The latest addition to the ever-expanding catalogue of India-US defence cooperation initiatives – the Underwater...

08.06.2026 70

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Why India Keeps Returning to Defence Weapons It Spent Years Rejecting

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: If there is one enduring feature of India’s defence procurement, it is the tendency of the Ministry of Defence...

07.06.2026 70

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

They Need It More Than Ever, But India's Cities Have Steered the Bicycle to Moribundity

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: World Bicycle Day is a reminder of a simple truth: the cycle remains one of the most efficient, affordable and...

04.06.2026 60

The Wire

Rahul Bedi