The shortage of body Armour, ammunition, new and advanced assault rifles, artillery weapons and night visions equipment’s have raised the issue of preparedness of the Armed Forces in the recent times, when the defense environment is a bit warm. Uri attack and recent surgical mission by paratroopers in Pakistan territory has become a hot issue among other countries. Both the nations are prepared for further actions. Talking about the India, the need of modernization and up-gradation is required.
Assault rifles INSAS, the home-grown assault rifle, has been in the news for a long time. Many top Armed Forces officials have asserted that the orange color parts of the INSAS rifle become a problem in the camouflage of soldiers. Further, the cracking of magazines and jamming problems were also reported during Kargil war. But all the attempts for its upgrades have been failed. Now the news of replacement of assault rifle has been reported. 1.85 lakhs new assault rifles worth rs 6,000 cr will be a key deal for the Army.
Shortage of sandbags was also reported in some crucial areas of the Armed Forces. It has been reported that soldiers deployed in north-eastern states, have bought sand bags on their own expenses to protect their tents. This has been the key mistake for the Uri incidents, where burning of tents was also the cause of causalities.
The shortage of soldiers is the red mark on the issue. Currently Indian Army is lacking about 9,100 officers and about 31,000 men, which is a great count. Another aspect of the same issue is that currently army has 3,500 snipers, but only some of them are able enough to take head-shot at 600 meters and a body-shot at 1,000 meters, which is a training fault.
Further, the Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) has come up with some key project for army, which are 145 Ultra-Light Howitzer Guns or M777 from U.S., about 800 Artillery Guns, 118 Arjun Mark II tanks and 420 Air-Defense guns. Arjun Mark II is also facing problems of missiles firing issues and is still pending. While some 1,000 T-72 tanks have been upgraded to meet the requirement of preparedness.
The lack of ammunition is also a cause of concern for the Armed Forces as a report said that the ammunition stores are only enough to serve the Indian army for 20 days in case of war. The truce between India and Pakistan has been sparked and the army has to stay ready for any kind of tough actions or counter actions. In that case, the moderation and upgrading the possessed arms should be the first priority of the government. Indian navy and Air Force is also going through some shortages and working hard to overcome it. But the army, which has to act first in all kinds of terrains should stay prepared and with full readiness. Moreover, the current actions by Indian army beyond borders have raised the governments focus on army and government seems to be a bit serious in its efforts.
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