Review by Brig D S Sarao

A tribute to Zoru Bakshi by Brigadier Rattan Kaul. Indian Army Lost a Gallant Solider On 24th May 2018. Zoru as he was called by his seniors and colleagues, we younger generation of the Regiment 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) used to quietly also refer to him as Zoru, but otherwise also as General Zoru Bakshi, completed a page of Braves of Indian Army. If you asked him to what Regiment he belonged, before 1980, he would say SECOND FIVE; a diehard Second Fiver (Second Battalion the Fifth Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) till he was elected as Colonel of the Regiment in 1980.

This story is dedicated to Lt Gen Harbaksh Singh Padma Vibhushan, VrC, Padma Bhushan GOC-in-C Western Command 1965 and Lt Col Megh Singh Rathore VrC CO 9 PARA CDO BN..... True legends.   

A Sailor's Story, by Vice Admiral N.Krishnan. Edited by: Arjun Krishnan - Book Review by K. Chandni

INAS 311 was commissioned by the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Nirmal Verma on 12th May 2009 at INS Dega in Vishakapatnam.

INAS 311, commanded by Commander Sanjay Nandan, operates the Dornier 228 aircraft.

The Talwar class has its origins in the Severnoye (Northern) Design Bureau that developed intothe Project 1135.6 vessel using an earlier Project 1135.1 design. This back to the early 1980s. The extensive scope of redesign and re-engineering for these vessels has realised a multipurpose surface combatant of about 4,000 ton displacement (this increase being attributed to additional weapon systems and the replacement of light alloys with steel), tailored to meet the Indian Navy's specific mission and performance requirements.

In October 1962, Air Commodore Y V Malse (1616 GD(P)) was with the National Defence College when he got urgent instructions to go to Eastern Air Command HQ as Air HQ's Special Liason officer.  The Indo-China war had broken out at that time. His observations from that era are narrated here in an oral interview from 2003. 

How the Indian Air Force came close to destroying eight of its own Jet fighters during the 1962 war. The first ever attempted "Scorched Earth" order in history.  Based on the recollections of Air Marshal Trilochan Singh.  

Which "aircraft" was 35 ft long, inducted in 1964, could fly at three times the speed of sound, had no wings and was inducted in huge numbers? It was the IAF's first Sufrace to Air Guided Weapon - the S-75 Dvina missile system [NATO :  SA-2 Guideline]. The history of the Dvina in IAF service was (and still is) obscured and obfuscated for years. For the first time, an attempt is made to trace its origins and its service till 1992.