Brain Drain, Imports, and 26 Lost Years: Why India Still Lags Behind F-35, Su-57 and J-20

In my previous blog post, I had highlighted the burden of personnel costs—65% of the defense budget—strangling India’s military modernization India’s Defense Dilemma: The High Cost of Staying Behind in the Fifth-Generation Jet Race. But that’s not the only problem that has kept the Indian defense industry restrained. In this post, I uncover another reason that…

India’s Defense Dilemma: The High Cost of Staying Behind in the Fifth-Generation Jet Race

The Wake of Operation Sindoor: A Stark Reality Check Operation Sindoor (May 2025) was a masterclass in modern warfare—India’s precision strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, executed in a single night, inflicted significant damage without crossing into a full-scale war. The ceasefire followed swiftly, but the operation exposed a glaring gap in India’s arsenal: the…