June-July 2012
SP’s
TREASURE
Volume 9 No. 3
AN SP GUIDE
`100.00 (India-Based Buyer Only)
PUBLICATION
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www.spslandforces.net 23_Inhouse Ad.indd 23 TREASUR AD.indd 1 Inside back Cover_MYB
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T h e ONL Y j o u r n a l i n A s i a d e d i c a t e d t o L a n d F o r c e s
In This Issue Page 6 Build Capacity, Strengthen Interoperability While the Indian Army is continuously working on bettering its C4I2SR capabilities, there is need for more focus and acceleration of capacity building in this context.
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Cover Story Photograph: SP Guide Pubns
Lt General (Retd) P.C. Katoch Page 8 India to Get 145 M777 Ultra Light Howitzers from BAE
The Ministry of Defence on May 11, 2012, cleared the `3,000-crore deal to buy 145 M777 ultra light howitzers from the US defence manufacturer, BAE Systems. Lt General (Retd) V.K. Kapoor Page 9 Demilitarising Siachen? Will demilitarisation of Siachen increase the chances/avenues of conflict between ChinaPakistan and India? An arbitrary political decision to demilitarise Siachen will be suicidal. Lt General (Retd) P.C. Katoch Page 11 India’s Strategic Deterrence Reaches New Heights Indian authorities believe that the solidfuelled Agni-V is more than adequate to meet current threat perceptions and security concerns as it will bring the whole of Asia, including the northernmost parts of China, a large part of Europe and other regions, under its strike envelope. Lt General (Retd) Naresh Chand Page 12 Streamline DPP A day-long conference on the Defence Procurement Procedure organised by SP Guide Publications in collaboration with ORF in New Delhi on May 2 emphasised on the need to streamline our defence procurement system to get the best equipment for our soldiers and reap maximum benefit in the future. Sucheta Das Mohapatra Plus Exercise Shoorveer
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Defexpo 2012 Show Report
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First / TecKnow
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News in Brief
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Preparing and Equipping for War The Indian Army’s current challenge is to find the appropriate balance between the old methods of conducting war and the new ways. There is no option but to restructure our organisations, our force levels, introduce new technologies and doctrines, and more importantly change our mindset in order to address the changing nature of threats and challenges which confront India in the future. Lt General (retd) V.K. Kapoor
Operational Voids
ecent media reports have indicated that the Indian Army is seriously short of weapons and ordnance. The reports also have highlights that delays in decisions on key military matters and procurements have blunted the operational edge of the armed forces. This has been highlighted in a letter written by the Army Chief General V.K. Singh to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Unfortunately, this letter was leaked to the media and thus the focus got shifted from the alarming deficiencies in various types of munitions, and lack of certain capabilities and obsolescence of weapons to the aspect of leakage of classified communications and the need to investigate this serious issue.
The Army Chief ’s letter ostensibly highlights delay in setting up the national counter-insurgency school, shortfall of quality ammunition and ordnance, lack of potent cyber warfare units, failure to modernise T-72 battle tanks, delay in upgradation of Arjun main battle tanks, lack of modernisation in artillery and air defence capabilities and delay in procurement of infantry weapons and reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters. The latest media reports indicate that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has criticised the government for allowing the situation to reach such ‘criticality’. It has admitted the serious shortage of ammunition and has also pointed out the gaps in existing force levels as well as the tardy procurement process. The committee has recommended an institutional dialogue
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and meetings between its members and all the three service chiefs for a comprehensive review of India’s defence preparedness.
Threats and Challenges The armed forces of any nation in the world must have stocks of ammunition and weapons to fight a war of certain duration based on the type of threats and challenges assessed by its armed forces and the intelligence agencies. It is in this backdrop that the deficiencies or lack of capabilities have to be measured. From the media reports it seems that the government has asked the armed forces to be prepared to fight on two fronts simultaneously. While this may not involve all out State to State wars due to “nuclearisation” of the region, even limited conventional conflicts will demand an overall capability of being able to sustain a war of high/medium intensity for a few weeks
3/2012 SP’s Land Forces
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