Govt sets June 2018 as target for meeting shortage of arms and ammunition in army
Govt sets June 2018 as target for meeting shortage of arms and ammunition in army
The government has set June 2018 as its target for meeting shortage of arms and ammunition in the army.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked the army to plan a roadmap to bring the ammunition levels back to "optimal levels", according to Hindustan Times.
While an army official did not specify if the "optimal" levels would be stockpile ammunition for 40, 30 or 20 days of intense fighting, several officers said that the force will be satisfied with ammunition stocks which last for 20 days of intense fighting.
However, army sources also told the newspaper that it would cost around Rs 20,000 crore just to build stocks of all types of ammunition to last 10 days.
On 10 November, Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat had said there was no shortage of arms and ammunition to the forces and they are fully prepared to give a befitting reply to enemies.
The army chief, who was in Varanasi to attend the bicentenary celebrations of the 9 Gorkha Rifles at 39 Gorkha Training Centre, also assured the nation that the borders are fully secured.
"The army is fully prepared to deal with our enemies and give them befitting reply," he had told media persons.
"There is no shortage of arms and ammunition with the army and the need of the hour was to continuously upgrade to the latest technology. And the army was getting itself equipped with the modern weapons," he had added.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its report tabled in Parliament earlier, had stated that the defence forces had ammunition that could last for 20 days in the event of a war, instead of the minimum requirement of 40 days.
It had criticised the state-run Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) for the inadequate quantity of ammunition supplied to the army since March 2013.
However, Sitharaman had dismissed the CAG report as "factually wrong".
The army has been struggling to meet its ammunition targets , and a string of reports have exposed chinks in the armoury. A July 2017 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) revealed that almost 40% of the ammunition stockpile in September 2016 would not even last for 10 days.
Only 20% of WWR holding was sufficient for 40 days, the CAG said after an audit that covered 152 types of ammunition, ranging from that for smalls arms, artillery guns and tanks to infantry combat vehicles.
In 2013, the defence ministry approved a plan to build WWR for 20 days by March 2015 with instructions that the remaining deficiency be made up by March 2019. “We are still nowhere close to our target. Building WWR that can last for 10 to 20 days will be a good beginning,” said former northern army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda (Retd).
The shortage has been attributed to disregard of government policy, delay in placing orders, suppliers missing deadlines, and quality issues.
“We have set the ball rolling to improve our ammunition holding. But let’s be clear about one thing that no military can claim to have 100% ammunition for all types of weapons to fight long wars,” said an officer. “Huge costs are involved as ammunition has shelf life.”
Another senior army officer suggested it would be a good idea to review the army’s operational strategies to find out if such a large WWR was needed at all. As per the government’s operational directive, the force should hold enough ammunition for 30 days of intense fighting and 30 days of normal fighting (or 40 days of intense fighting).
“In this day and age, are we really going to fight a 60-day war?” he asked.
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