As a percentage of the military budget, the navy's share has fallen from 19 per cent in 2010-2011 to just 15.5 per cent this year. With the Indian Navy's annual budget declining steadily, security planners are reluctant to green light crucial projects, discovers Ajai Shukla.

'The INS Vishal -- a 65,000 tonne giant with 54 aircraft, including fighters, electronic warfare aircraft, airborne command posts and anti-submarine helicopters -- can both protect and dominate,' says Ajai Shukla.

With the IAF having rejected variants of 4 of the contending aircraft -- the Super Hornet, F-16, Gripen C/D and MiG-35 -- in flight trials carried out between 2009-2011 in the MMRCA tender, are the current contenders improved enough to pass flight trials conducted to the same standards?

Commander Abhilash Tomy of the Indian Navy will set sail from France on the 30,000-mile Golden Globe Race only with a compass, printed maps, star and planetary movements and 140 litres of fuel.

The Siang is a dramatic river that flows through a beautiful land. Rafting on it is a rare pleasure the state offers tourists, says Ajai Shukla.

The Agni-V can reach beyond Tibet to high-value targets in the Chinese heartland, even its northern-most provinces.

Indian Admirals say Malabar 2018 will involve unprecedented complexity, featuring enemy threats in all three dimensions, but especially underwater threats from submarines -- a key Chinese strength. For the first time, officers from all three navies will be posted on other navies' warships. That means Indian Navy officers will obtain the unprecedented benefits of operating on US nuclear attack submarines and Japan's highly regarded Soryu submarines.

After a decade-long wait, the IAF will transform 80 ageing Jaguar fighters into highly capable, multi-role, combat aircraft.

HAL will build each Su-30 at just Rs 4.25 billion. The IAF is paying Rs 11.25 billion per Rafale, excluding the price of weapons and logistics.

'Defence does not new 'planning commissions'; it needs an implementation commission.'

The cancellation of the project has far-reaching implications for the IAF, for which this was once its high-tech future fighter.

'It was deliberate,' the Russians allege.

Russian Helicopters has scored another billion dollar home run by winning the Indian Navy's tender for 111 'naval utility helicopters'.

Aeron Systems, founded in 2008 by Ashvani Shukla and Abhijit Bokil, is looking to contribute to programmes such as the Tejas light combat aircraft

Though the government says public and private shipyards compete on equal terms, public shipyards feast at the high table with the defence ministry, with only scraps being tossed to private shipbuilders.

Their success or failure will eventually hinge on how much equipment the services procure, and whether the finance ministry supplements the allocations in the Budget

This is perhaps the most authoritative portrayal so far of Indian air power as a threat to China.

Still, there remains a worrying shortfall of frigates, which are the navy's workhorses. 'We need to have at least 24 frigates,' says a senior admiral. 'Currently we are 10 short.'

In contrast to the bare-bones price of $115 million for each Rafale fighter, the F-35A cost $94.6 million, reports Ajai Shukla.

The RSS chief's comment that if war broke out, the military would not be ready for at least six to seven months is correct as it faces a shortfall in training and alertness and an even greater lack of funds for defence preparedness, notes Ajai Shukla.