Army grappling with arms shortage, delays in acquisition of weapons

NEW DELHI: India’s combat effectiveness is less than it should be, a fact that needs to be highlighted especially as the government reconsiders its Pakistan policy.

ET spoke to a number of serving and retired officers in the armed forces and experts with defence research backgrounds. They chose to speak off the record.

The army needs basic items like assault rifles as well as high-end anti-aircraft missile systems. There are enormous delays in the acquisition processes for these.

The defence ministry failed to spend the full budget outlay on modernisation plans which led to a cut in budget allocation for military capital spending in 2016-17.

There’s also a concern about ammunition supplies. Army insiders said at the current levels of supply, India can sustain an all-fronts war for just four days. New orders have been issued and India should be in a far better position, they said.



Not much has happened in the past two years, officers and experts said. This government’s efforts at smoothening the acquisition process hasn’t yet resulted in the army acquiring new war-fighting tools.

Many senior officers said the continuing battles over pay and pension, which have spilled over to 7th Pay Commission recommendations as well, are taking their toll on morale, including in the upper reaches of forces.

The army brass is also fretting over what it sees as “increased government involvement in the posting of top officers”. Senior officers said this has led to some top fighting formations remaining leaderless for months.

The Western Army Command was headless for over 10 week before Lt Gen Surinder Singh was appointed Commander on September 15. This was an unprecedented situation for the critical Western Command that focusses on the Pakistan border in Punjab and in parts of Jammu and Kashmir.