Indian Government seals Rs 20,000 crore urgent arms deal to make forces battle- ready

Finally, Indian government is making efforts to have its armed forces prepared for battles. Recently, the country has inked a flurry of emergency deals for ammunition and spares worth around Rs 20,000 crore over the last two to three months to ensure its fighters and tanks, infantry and warships, are all ready to go to battle at short notice.

According to the sources in defence ministry, the aim is to guarantee the armed forces can undertake at least 10 days of "intense fighting" without worrying about ammunition, spares and other reserves.

Reportedly, the pace for concluding the new contracts, primarily with Russia, Israel and France, was set in motion after the terror attack in Uri on September 18.

The Union Budget 2017 might not have helped the soldiers and new military modernisation projects, with the bulk of the Rs 86,488 crore capital outlay earmarked for "committed liabilities", but the armed forces are gung-ho about the fast-track procedures now in place to ensure "serviceability and availability" of existing weapon systems and platforms.

For instance, the Army has inked around 10 contracts worth over Rs 5,800 crore with Russian companies alone. These range from engines and 125mm APFSDS (armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot) ammunition for its T-90S and T-72 tanks to Konkurs anti-tank guided missiles and Smerch rockets.

"The emergency purchases will obviate the need for armed forces to present long shopping lists to the government after every major terror strike. They can now maintain operational readiness for different contingencies," a source told TOI.

As per operational norms, the WWR should be sufficient for 30 days of "intense" and 30 days of "normal" fighting. But the Army simply does not have such reserves. The CAG, incidentally, had also taken note of this alarming state of affairs in a report tabled in Parliament.