Four steps taken by government to address Indian Army's ammunition shortage

NEW DELHI: Acknowledging that the Indian Army is short of critical ammunition, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said the government has taken steps to mitigate the deficiencies.

"The government has taken into consideration the deficiencies in some of the critical ammunition on priority and has also taken effective steps to mitigate the deficiencies to ensure desired level of operational-preparedness commensurate to threat perception in a dynamic strategic scenario," Parrikar said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Parrikar said that the C&AG report covers the status till March, 2013. The Defence Minister highlighted additional steps taken to address the ammunition shortage. These are:

NEW DELHI: Acknowledging that the Indian Army is short of critical ammunition, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said the government has taken steps to mitigate the deficiencies.

"The government has taken into consideration the deficiencies in some of the critical ammunition on priority and has also taken effective steps to mitigate the deficiencies to ensure desired level of operational-preparedness commensurate to threat perception in a dynamic strategic scenario," Parrikar said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Parrikar said that the C&AG report covers the status till March, 2013. The Defence Minister highlighted additional steps taken to address the ammunition shortage. These are:

1) Second Five Year Ammunition Roll on indent for the period 2014-19 has been placed on Ordnance Factory Board ( OFB).

2) A road map on ammunition has been approved which envisages procurement ex-import and ex-trade to build up adequate targeted stocks in addition to training requirement.

3) An institutionalized mechanism in the form of Working Group to review critical items has been set up.

4) Ammunition with recurring large annual training requirement with high cost has been intimated to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and OFB for indigenous development. Second Five Year Ammunition Roll on indent for the period 2014-19 has been placed on Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

2) A road map on ammunition has been approved which envisages procurement ex-import and ex-trade to build up adequate targeted stocks in addition to training requirement.

3) An institutionalized mechanism in the form of Working Group to review critical items has been set up.

4) Ammunition with recurring large annual training requirement with high cost has been intimated to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and OFB for indigenous development.