ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the circumstances that have conditioned Indian national threat perceptions and have led to the steady increases in India's military power. It reviews the interaction of those circumstances and threat perceptions over time and within the geopolitical contexts relevant to the country. The chapter considers likely alterations in the geostrategic environments that those circumstances and threats create for India in the future. It assesses Indian policy choices with respect to conventional and nuclear weapons acquisition in the succeeding years. India has slowly but steadily built up one of the world's largest armed forces establishments from the minimal forces existing in 1947. The country's military officer corps numbered 30,000-40,000, with substantial numbers among them trained for staff level duties. The Indian leadership had also absorbed lessons from four substantial external wars and one continuing internal war in northeast India.
