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Rahul Bedi

Rahul Bedi

Indian Express

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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 20

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 20

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 20

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 10

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 20

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 20

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 20

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 20

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 30

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 30

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 30

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 20

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 30

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 20

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 20

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 20

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 20

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 30

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 20

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 40

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 40

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 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

What Is Chandigarh's 'Social Type'? Meet His Heaviness

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Every major Indian city has a social type that comes to define it: New Delhi has its politicians and power...

02.06.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

India's Interest in the American FGM-148 Javelin ATGM is Back. Here's Why it Matters

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: On May 30, when United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue in...

01.06.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Chandigarh Flyover Halted: High Court Backs Cyclists, Pedestrians and Le Corbusier's Green Vision

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Cyclists and pedestrians – among the most overlooked and vulnerable users of India’s roads, whether in cities,...

30.05.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

With Finance Ministry Nod, Long-Stalled Rs 70,000-Crore Submarine Project Moves Closer to Reality

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The Indian Navy will no doubt be jubilant that nearly three decades after it set in motion the concept that led to...

29.05.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

India's Fifth-Generation Fighter Gap Gives Fresh Life to Russia's Su-57 Offer

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Amid growing concerns in the Indian Air Force (IAF) over Pakistan’s prospective acquisition of China’s...

28.05.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Rafale Returns? A Decade Later, India is Back to the Same Fighter Deal at Four Times the Price

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The hoary French adage, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” – the more things change, the more...

26.05.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

A Time When 'Just Passing By and Thought I’d Drop By' Used to Be Perfectly Normal

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Do you even recall the last time you simply arrived at somebody’s house unannounced? Not sent the now-obligatory...

24.05.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Indian Army Just Slashed a Colonel's Pension In Half. Other Veterans Got the Message

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The recent halving of a retired Indian Army officer’s monthly pension by military fiat over largely unproven...

23.05.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Back-to-Back RAF F-35B Groundings Raise Questions About Reliability of NATO's Top Fighter

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The grounding of two RAF F-35B “Lightning II” naval variant fighters for over two months at Lajes Airport in...

22.05.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

The Strategic Delusion: How One Word Came to Mean Everything and Nothing

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The term ‘strategic’ has become the tadka, or heavily spiced seasoning, of modern discourse. It is liberally...

18.05.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

How Pakistan's National Anthem Took Seven Years and Ended Up in Persian

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: A little-remembered, and often overlooked aspect of Pakistan’s founding history, is that it spent seven years...

15.05.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

‘By No Means a Constitutional Ceremony’: Veterans Raise Concerns Over IAF Show at Somnath Temple

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) grand aerobatic display on May 11 over the Somnath Temple, in the presence of Prime...

12.05.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Global Surveys Rank America Behind Russia and China in Global Standing for Second Year Running

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The image of the United States (US) as the so-called indispensable global power is rapidly eroding, as...

11.05.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Chandigarh Is Changing, But the City Still Works

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Chandigarh, the “City Beautiful”, widely considered among India’s most liveable places, presents a...

10.05.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Marked by an Easy, Unforced Largeness of Spirit, Punjab's Once-Robust ‘Daleri’ Is Now Moribund

Listen to this article: During my growing-up years in Punjab over seven decades ago, daleri – that intoxicating blend of self-assurance, humour,...

10.05.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

As Next CDS Too is Picked From Army, Concerns Arise Within IAF, Navy About 'Tri-Service' Nature of Post

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The appointment of Lieutenant General (Retd) N.S. Raja Subramani as India’s next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS),...

09.05.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

India Revives BrahMos-Vietnam Sale Talks Amid China Caution

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Yet again, India revived discussions earlier this week over the long-delayed transfer of the BrahMos cruise...

08.05.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

'Politicisation of the Military': Veterans Question Senior Army Officer's Meeting With Union Minister Gadkari

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Service veterans have expressed unease over a senior Indian Army officer’s meeting with Union road and transport...

05.05.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

As Pakistan Commissions Hangor Submarine, India's Project 75-I Stalls at Contracting Stage

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The commissioning of PNS Hangor, the first of eight Hangor-class air-independent propulsion (AIP)-equipped...

01.05.2026 60

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Why the S-400 Programme Risks Becoming a High-End Air-Defence Capability With Brittle Endurance

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: It is tempting – especially in sections of the media and some official commentary – to portray the imminent...

30.04.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

US Military Competence and the Myths it Rests on

Listen to this article: New Delhi: Over the past several decades, the US has cultivated a mythology of military competence and moral clarity in its...

24.04.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

As Rajnath Singh Lands in Germany, Two-Decades-Old Submarine Project Still Awaits Deal

Listen to this article: New Delhi: With Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Germany to deepen defence ties, a stubborn reality overshadows the visit:...

21.04.2026 50

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

India's Crippling Dependence on Imported Aero Engines

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The outcome of India’s Atmanirbhar or indigenous military aviation ambitions is determined less by design...

20.04.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Why the F414 Agreement Isn’t the Breakthrough It’s Being Sold As

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Unquestioning media portrayals of the recent technical agreement between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and...

16.04.2026 60

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Why India's Defence Deal Probes are a Waste of Time

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: Everlasting investigations by successive governments into numerous alleged corruption cases in material...

14.04.2026 70

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

Pakistan Seizes the Diplomatic Stage in the West Asia Crisis; India Stays Cautiously Invisible

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: The contrast between Indian and Pakistani diplomatic styles –currently unfolding in the ongoing Islamabad talks...

11.04.2026 30

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

India Builds Nuclear-Powered Submarines with Ease, but Stalls on Less Complex Fleet

Listen to this article: The recent commissioning of INS Aridhaman, the Indian Navy’s (Indian Navy) third indigenously designed Arihant-class...

11.04.2026 40

The Wire

Rahul Bedi

How Continued Dependence on Imported Engines Undermines India's Quest for Military Airpower Dominance

Listen to this article: Chandigarh: India’s quest for military airpower dominance continues to be undermined by its most enduring weakness –...

06.04.2026 70

The Wire

Rahul Bedi