It gives us great pleasure to bring to you Winter 2022, the sixth edition of the INDES. Our readers may recall that journey of the Indian Naval Despatch began on 04 December 2020, with launch of the Inaugural edition on Navy Day that year. As the Chief of the Naval Staff, had then stated in his foreword that, “The vision of INDES is truly epitomised by the theme enshrined in the journal’s logo viz, ‘Lighting Maritime Thought.’ Over course of the last two years - through its six editions, INDES has made humble beginnings for achieving this vision through publication of more than 110 articles, papers, book reviews etc., submitted by more than 100 authors. The INDES is probably one of the few professional journals, which publishes three editions a year; providing regular opportunity to budding writers and authors to contribute and commence their literary journeys. Publishing works of young author’s has been one of our key focus areas, and the Editorial Team takes pride in engaging with these young minds, intellectually pushing and prodding them to improve their expression and writing.

It gives us great pleasure to bring to you Winter 2022, the sixth edition of the INDES. Our readers may recall that journey of the Indian Naval Despatch began on 04 December 2020, with launch of the Inaugural edition on Navy Day that year. As the Chief of the Naval Staff, had then stated in his foreword that, “The vision of INDES is truly epitomised by the theme enshrined in the journal’s logo viz, ‘Lighting Maritime Thought.’ Over course of the last two years - through its six editions, INDES has made humble beginnings for achieving this vision through publication of more than 110 articles, papers, book reviews etc., submitted by more than 100 authors. The INDES is probably one of the few professional journals, which publishes three editions a year; providing regular opportunity to budding writers and authors to contribute and commence their literary journeys. Publishing works of young author’s has been one of our key focus areas, and the Editorial Team takes pride in engaging with these young minds, intellectually pushing and prodding them to improve their expression and writing.

The Winter 2022 edition, once again, like previous editions, brings with it, a wide genre of writings and research, covering the entire spectrum of strategic thought, many of them by ‘first time authors.’The contents include influence of Strategic Culture/ Sun Tzu on the 1962 Indo-China conflict, need for Theatre Commands, strategic power play in the Artic, Admiral Kanhoji Angre, India’s SSBN Fleet, China’s strategic culture, politics of China- Pakistan Economic Corridor, Indian Naval Satellite Communication, challenges and opportunities in the Central Asian Region, Blockchain and naval applications, inducting technology in leadership, training and human resource management, governance in maritime zones of India and centrality of Aircraft Carriers to India’s Maritime Security. Winter 2022 edition also carries three very interesting reviews on recently published books pertaining to nuclear transitions in Southern Asia, Rising to the China Challenge and the Royal Indian Navy mutiny. In the Rogue’s Yarn and Small Stu?, we have a thoughtful insight into the complex world of Anti-Submarine Warfare; while the section on ‘Both Watches,’ which is gradually emerging as a vibrant platform for interaction between readers, authors and the Editorial Team, sees interesting feedback and comments from patrons of the INDES.

Our readers would also recall that the Indian Naval Despatch Foundation or INDEF Website was launched during conduct of the Goa Maritime Conclave 2021, an apex level maritime engagement initiative of the Indian Ocean Region organized by the Indian Navy. The website has truly been a force multiplier in our outreach efforts to improve the journal’s readership and has witnessed more than 18300 visitors since its launch in November 2021. We are constantly engaged in the process of improving reader experience and functionality of the website. This includes the creation of an email with the Websites’ domain name, which is contactus@indesfoundation.in. The Winter 2022 edition, is also unique as it carries the first advertisement by a sponsor, which in this case is the Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL). We are indeed proud to partner and showcase MDL’s repertoire and global standing as a leading shipbuilder of India. We are hopeful that many more leading organisations and enterprises will come onboard to support our efforts for ‘Lighting Maritime Thought.’

Our Editor-in-Chief, RAdm Shrikhande (Retd) has taken a short sabbatical from the Winter 2022 edition, as he is preoccupied with pursuing his Doctorate. He will be back with us for the Spring 2023 edition. The ‘call for contributions’ for the Spring 2023 edition is out. For our previous editions, we are thankful to our authors and writers who with their response have posed a significant editorial dilemma on selecting articles from so many submissions, due to the ‘space and page’ factor; a pleasing ‘constraint’ for the Editorial Team of any journal.

We hope that you enjoy reading the Winter 2022 edition of the INDES, as much as we enjoyed compiling it. Needless to say, the views expressed in this journal are solely of individual authors, and do not represent or reflect any official policy or position of any organisation, either government or private. As Dan Schulman, the CEO of Paypal famously said, ‘the biggest impediment to a company's future success is its past success.’ We, therefore, look forward to receiving valuable feedback and suggestions for inclusion in the Both Watches section to improve the follow-on editions of the INDES. In the end, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all authors for contributing their valuable articles as well as to all those who facilitated in publishing of this journal.

We wish you ‘Happy Reading’ and ‘Keep Writing’ in 2023.