Click to play videoThe tension between India and Pakistan has once against put the focus on our defence forces and how prepared they are for a likely battle. Over the next one week, CNN-IBN will look at the delays in critical equipment required by the forces that has been caught in delays in a special series – Are We Battle Ready.
New Delhi: A bullet-proof jacket that was to stand between life and death proved to be no match for the terrorist's fire and the country lost one of its most efficient officers in ATS chief Hemant Karkare during the Nov 26 terror attack.
Sadly Karkare's counterparts engaged in counter insurgency operations across the country are in no better shape
CNN-IBN has copies of letters written by the Rashtriya Rifles and HQ 16 Corps dating as far back as 2004. Soldiers have been complaining jackets are heavy, cumbersome and sagging towards the front.
Even with the protective gear the Army says it has suffered fatal casualties. Twenty-eight per cent of those killed took shots in the chest region, 11 per cent in the head and almost 14 per cent died because their face and neck region was exposed.
The design of the old jackets is part of the problem. Add to it that most bullet-proof jackets are more than 15 years old and weigh about 10 kg. It’s in sharp contrast to the 6-kg ones available in the market giving high levels of protection
“We face a 40 to 50 per cent shortage in a non technical item like the bullet proof. These delays are merely on account of these procedures,” says ex-Army chief Gen V P Malik.
In 1998, the Army first put out a requirement for bullet-proof jackets, it was looking at protection from weapons like a 9 mm carbine.
That requirement or what is called a GSQR in technical parlance was modified in 2001 to include further up gradations
Now eight years later, in the light of fresh threat perceptions and a more lethal enemy weapon, the Army is thinking afresh.
The procedure is such that even if the Army was to make up its mind tomorrow and due processes followed, it could be years before the solider on the ground gets to wear it.
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