Captain (Dr) Gurpreet S Khurana

After 35 years as a gunnery specialist and commanding two warships, Captain Khurana retired from Indian Navy in Jan 2023 as Professor and Directing Staff, Naval War College (NWC, Goa). He is an internationally acclaimed strategic analyst, known to be tangibly rooted in Indian policy-making at the military-strategic and national-strategic levels. He began his academic career as a Research Fellow at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA, New Delhi) (2003-2008). Since then, he has authored three books, more than 100 research papers/ policy-briefs on naval, strategic, legal and geopolitical issues, particularly relating to India, China, the US and Southeast Asia. His writings are available at https://independent.academia.edu/khurana He is globally accredited by Wikipedia/ think-tanks to be the first to use the term ‘Indo-Pacific’ in an academic writing (of January 2007). As Deputy Director of Maritime Doctrine and Concept Centre (MDCC), Mumbai (2009-2014), he compiled the Indian Maritime Doctrine 2009 and Handbook on Law of Maritime Operations (Indian Navy Book of Reference-1652) in three volumes, besides the (classified) “China: Strategic Maritime Outlook” as a supplement to India’s Maritime-Security Strategy 2007. In 2009, he enrolled for Ph.D (Defence Studies), and received his Doctorate in Dec 14. From 2014-19, he served as Executive Director of National Maritime Foundation (NMF), New Delhi. In 2016, he authored a book titled, ‘Porthole: Compendium of Geopolitical, Strategic and Maritime Terms and Concepts’ (Pentagon Press, New Delhi), as reference book for scholars and young officers of sea-going services. It contains definitions and explanations on the subtle differences among closely-related terms and concepts for correct usage. At NMF, he also contributed to India’s draft National Maritime Policy, and represented India in international forums like the IORA, EAS and CSCAP. He has delivered lectures on Indo-Pacific concept, maritime security, maritime doctrine and maritime strategy at various academic institutions in India—like the Foreign Service Institute (FSI, New Delhi), Army War College (Mhow), College of Air Warfare (Secunderabad), Jamia Milia Islamia (New Delhi), Delhi Public School (Faridabad), IDSA (New Delhi), Vivekananda International Foundation (New Delhi), Observer Research Foundation (New Delhi)—and abroad, like Sichuan University (China), Warsaw University (Poland), Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (Vietnam), Rajaratnam School of International Studies (Singapore), and RAND Corporation and Centre for Naval Analyses (CNA) in Washington DC. He has also participated in various think-tank conferences conducted in the China, Italy, Israel, Japan, Myanmar, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, the UK, the US, and Vietnam. Besides maritime doctrine/ strategy and geopolitics, he specialises in maritime law. After compiling Handbook on Law of Maritime Operations (INBR-1652), he reviewed the 2017 ICRC Commentary on the 2nd Geneva Convention (Warfare at Sea) and co-authored the 2023 Newport Manual on Law of Naval Warfare, published by US Naval War College, Newport. Presently, he is part of international committee established to review the San Remo Manual on the Law of Armed Conflicts at Sea, 1994. He teaches maritime geopolitics, maritime strategy and international maritime law at the Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC, Wellington) and the NWC, Goa. He is also associated with the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy (KIMS, Seoul), and is Visiting Faculty at the Central University of Gujarat (CUG, Ahmedabad).