Corruption, Infighting and Old Weapons: A Weakened Indian Army

After his recent bombshell about an 14 Crore bribe offer, Army Chief General V.K. Singh once again exposed the weakness in the 1.3 million-strong force. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 12 March, he asked the PM to “pass suitable directions to enhance the preparedness of the army”.

Ever since his serious differences with South Block that houses the defence ministry over his date of birth issue, there was been an unusual delay of processing the files bureaucratically which made him to approach the PM’s office. “The state of the major (fighting) arms, i.e., mechanized forces, artillery, air defence, infantry and special forces, as well as the engineers and signals, is indeed alarming,” general wrote to PM in the letter that was published in the Indian newspaper DNA.

The Indian military could not ink any major deals in arms purchases ever since the UPA government came to power and critical operational shortages have failed to move a stubborn bureaucracy, reveals the DNA report. “The state of the major (fighting) arms i.e. Mechanised Forces, Artillery, Air Defence, Infantry and Special Forces, as well as the Engineers and Signals, is indeed alarming,” the letter said.

The major issues reported by DNA (according to the letter) are:

1. The army’s entire tank fleet is “devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks.”

2. The air defence is “97 percent obsolete and it doesn’t give the deemed confidence to protect…from the air”

3. The infantry is crippled with “deficiencies of crew served weapon” and lacks “night fighting” capabilities.

4. Elite Special Forces are “woefully short” of “essential weapons”

There are “large-scale voids” in critical surveillance; night fighting capabilities.