Antony reviews preparedness with Service chiefs

NEW DELHI: With relations between India and Pakistan taking a turn for the worse in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror assault, defence minister A K Antony held a meeting with the three service chiefs and senior ministry officials here on Thursday in what is being as an exercise to assess the status of the country���s preparedness to deal with the developing situation.

���The defence minister today held a meeting with the chiefs of the three services and the defence secretary to review the overall security situation and to take stock of the state of preparedness of the armed forces,��� a ministry official said here later on Thursday.

The meeting, the second such high-level gathering to be held within a fortnight, took stock of the requirements of the three wings of the armed forces to deal with the situation created by terrorists and their backers from across the border. It was agreed that the government would move fast to plug gaps in their requirements, in terms of equipment and critical defence systems.

���The position with regard to certain critical equipment and the status of ongoing acquisition was reviewed in detail,��� the defence ministry official said.

The process of acquisition of defence equipment, ministry sources claimed, was, as a result, now expected to be expedited keeping in mind urgent needs of the security forces.

With the Mumbai terror attacks exposing chinks in India���s preparedness to meet the terror threat, CCS had earlier this month reacted with alacrity, clearing the additional amount demanded by Russia for refitting and re-equipping Admiral Gorshkov, the aircraft carrier purchased by India way back in 2004.

The deal had come under strain following Russia���s demand for re-negotiating the refitting plan. The CCS had also cleared, in a jiffy, the purchase of 80 MI-17 helicopters for the army. The choppers come in handy to transport troops and ferry supplies to the high altitude forward areas in Jammu and Kashmir.

It is now expected that the other requirements of the three armed forces would be given a fresh, urgent look in view of the changed security scenario.

Security of coastal and offshore assets and with land and maritime borders was also reviewed at the meeting held here on Thursday, in light of threats emanating from there. ``Security of vital coastal and offshore assets was discussed with a view to ensure that these remained fully secure,������ the sources said.

The gathering also stressed the need for a co-ordinated intelligence sharing. Besides Mr Antony, among those who attended today���s meeting included Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Chief of Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal F H Major and defence secretary Vijay Singh.

The defence minister will hold another meeting on Saturday to review the coastal security.