MoD focus on big purchases while Army reels under operational shortages

 The largest importer of arms in the world has a defence budget of Rs 1.93 lakh crores. It is willing to spend Rs. 42,000 crore on new aircraft but it does not seem to have the will to spend few thousand crores for ammunition to plug the long standing leaks in the national defence.

India is going to spend Rs. 79, 579 crore to purchase new weapons and platforms in the financial year 2012-13.  Out of this the Indian Navy has got the largest share of Rs. 23,882 crore, Indian Air Force Rs. 28,503 crore. But the Indian Army, whose soldiers lack quality weapons to fire, ammunition to sustain attack and capability to see in the night has got only Rs. 13, 803 crores.

In the last one year the Ministry of Defence has sealed many big ticket purchases like 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster-III heavy-lift aircraft from the US at the cost of $ 4.1 billion, upgradation of Mirage fighter jets valuing $ 5.2 billion, refurbished Russian aircraft carrier for $2.24 billion. But tank ammunition, assault rifles, artillery guns, light utility helicopters, night vision devices, air defence guns have been hit by repeated delays.

Most of the purchases have either been delayed due to the budgetary constraints or stalled due to the limited choice available to the Army following the foreign vendors being blacklisted by the defence ministry after getting a whiff of corruption charges either by a competitor or some politician. The result is a glaring gap in the Indian defence.

In the acquisition of the ammunition for tanks and artillery – termed as a game of ‘snake and ladder’ by General VK Singh – the Army has repeatedly been bitten by snakes. For its tanks that form an important line of defence and offence for the force, the Army was assured that it will get the ammunition produced indigenously. However, the ammunition produced at Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) failed to pass the trials. Later the blacklisting of Israeli firm IMI in 2009 stalled the ammunition procurement.

Thereafter, the Army looked at its biggest defence partner Russia for 60,000 rounds as its reserves dipped below the critical mark of 10,000 rounds. Sources say that the Russians, notorious for inflating the price in crucial defence deals, again quoted a price 800 times higher than the actual price. In the end, the Army in December 2010 placed orders for 16,000 rounds only to meet immediate requirements. The contract became effective in March 2011 and the complete consignment was expected to be delivered by March 2012.

However, the Defence Minister sought to bail out his ministry on the issue. “Over the years we have been procuring more for our army. Last year (2010-11) it was ammunition worth Rs. 11,000 crore, this year (2011-12) it was worth Rs. 12,000 crore. There is a limitation of budget but at the same time for armed forces budget will not be a problem,” said Antony.

This lackadaisical attitude of the government has ensured that the Indian Army has not been able to induct a single artillery gun since 1987 when the ghost of Bofors gun cost Congress its government at the centre. Presently India has blacklisted four foreign gun makers – Swedish Bofors, South African Denel, German Rheinmetall and Singaporean Singapore Kinetics. Ordnance Factory Board has embarked on the path to manufacture a gun at home but it will take years before it materializes and will not be able to meet the glaring gap in the artillery firepower.

The government had decided to purchase M777 ultra light howitzers to be deployed in mountainous terrain along China from the US government. However, the guns failed to meet Army’s requirements during trials. And when Army offered to change its requirements, the defence ministry again scuttled its move.

When asked about it, helpless Antony told the Defence Express: “You are trying to corner government on both sides - first you say we are not speeding up and then on corruption charges. Even those of you who think I am slow I want to say that I do not want to take chances. I cannot throw any complaint in the basket. Blacklisting vendors in certain categories has limited our option but what can we do? We are always telling them that Indian system is transparent. If they try to corrupt people we will take action. What can I do?”

Rheinmetall provides the gun mounted on the home-built Arjun tanks, its blacklisting means jeopardizing the whole tank project. Also The German firm is the only vendor meeting the Indian Army’s requirement for air defence guns, 97 percent of the present ones have become obsolete.

The Indian Army soldier has been making to do with malfunctioning INSAS assault rifles inducted in 1997-98. The guns had become a point contention between India and Nepal in 2005 when Nepalese Army complained that the rifles supplied by India to fight Maoist guerillas malfunctioned repeatedly, resulting in heavy casualties. However, despite the persistent malfunctioning, the Indian Army has to employ it extensively in counter-insurgency area. These problems had compelled the force to import one lakh Kalashnikov-designed AK-47 rifles from Bulgaria in 1995 for counter-insurgency operations. Its special counter-insurgency force Rashtriya Rifles continues to use AK-47.

Eagerly awaiting replacement of its INSAS rifles, the Indian Army had floated a Rs. 13,000 crore tender for 66,000 assault rifles in December 2011. Presently field trials are on for the project.

As per statistics, the Indian Army has a formidable line up of about 3,000 tanks but as the sun goes down, night blindness hits about 50 percent of the tanks. Also not every foot soldier is equipped with night vision devices. As per the Indian Army Chief the force has set aside Rs. 5,000 crore for this purpose and it will take another four to five years before they materialize.

The mandarins of the South Block have been unable to solve the puzzle of bringing transparency in the defence deals without compromising with the pace of acquisition. Defence Minister AK Antony virtually washed his hands off the snail paced procurement procedures that have “severely” impaired the fighting capabilities of the Indian Army.