Click to play videoYoung soldiers trekked up the heights of Kargil 10 years ago and won a war for India. It was a miracle-- those soldiers were ill equipped and it was their guts and grit that won the war.
Five years after the Kargil war was won the Indian Army was battling with the Government for better bulletproof jackets. CNN-IBN has copies of letters written by the Rashtriya Rifles and Headquarters Quarters 16 Corps dating as far back as 2004 for better bulletproof jackets.
Soldiers complain their bulletproof jackets are heavy, cumbersome and sag towards the front, thus leaving upper parts of the chest, shoulder and neck exposed.
Even with the protective gear the Army says it has suffered fatal casualties: 28 per cent of its men died taking 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.
Most bulletproof jackets used by the Army are more than 15 years old and weigh about 10 kg. The market has jackets that weigh just about 6 kg and give high levels of protection.
“When India can send a satellite to the moon, I see no reason why we cannot get bulletproof jackets for our soldiers,” says General (retd.) V P Malik, who was Army chief during the Kargil conflict. “There is a (bulletproof jacket) shortage of almost about 40-50 per cent in the Indian Army. This is more in account of our production agencies not being able to get right quality and right quantity to the armed forces.”
Barring a few emergency purchases, the Army has struggled to get new bulletproof jackets for more than 10 years now. In 1998, the Army first put out a requirement for bulletproof jackets to counter weapons like a 9-mm carbine.
That requirement was modified in 2001 to include protection from more sophisticated weapons--like the AK47 gun--the enemy was using. Now eight years later in the light of fresh threat perceptions, the Army is thinking afresh.
Private companies, like the Tatas, believe they have the skills and the infrastructure to make a bulletproof jacket that suits specific needs of various combat operations. Hemant Acharya, COO of Tata Advanced Materials, says his company can manufacture bulletproof jackets based on the Army’s needs.
“One has to clear about the ammunition it has to protect against (and) which part of the body. One should also be clear what one is willing to pay for it,” says Acharya.
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 the bulletproof jacket he needs.
Bofors shadow
Bulletproof jackets or artillery guns the Indian Army's modernization drive has been stopped dead in its tracks by the phobia created by Bofors scandal.
Bofors powered Indian victory in Kargil but not one new artillery gun has been purchased for over 20 years. In the 10 years since Kargil, four tenders for buying 860 guns and making another 1,200 in India are stuck in red tape because of the phobia created by the Bofors gun deal.
“Just because there has been a scam, people are very reluctant to touch Bofors again--even though the gun has proved itself,” says Lt General Shankar Prasad, former director general of military operations.
India's artillery modernization programme is paralysed because of the scam-tainted $1.4-billion deal for 410 Bofors guns in 1986. Bofors keeps outperforming rivals in trials for new guns and emerged a clear winner after four tough trial rounds. The gun’s essential features--its range, accuracy and rate of fire--exceeded the Army's requirements but that fact was overshadowed.
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government rejected the gun in 2007 on the flimsy ground that its auxiliary power system didn’t perform all.
Outgunned
The Army’s stalled artillery programme includes procurement of 400 towed guns with an option to make 1,200 more in India, 180 wheeled self-propelled howitzers, 100 tracked self-propelled guns, 180 ultra-light howitzers for mountain warfare and upgrade of 410 Bofors guns.
Pakistan has made it clear that its nuclear threshold is low. Hence, deep thrusts by Indian troops into Pakistan territory will be very risky. Under such constraints, longer-range firepower will be critical to victory in any future war. But the result of the Bofors phobia is that India does not have this edge.
The Defence Ministry continues to issues tenders after tenders, as it can neither ignore Bofors and nor be seen cutting another deal with it.
Vintage air defence
The Army manages to make ends meet though it has an artillery gun shortage but it air defence set-up is in a scandalous state. The Directorate General of Air Defence has told the top brass that 97 per cent of its equipment, which is used to protect the Army’s field formations and vital installations from air attack, is approaching obsolescence.
The KVADRAT has been service for 30 years and is now at least two years over its full life. The L 70 air defence gun, which forms the backbone of the air defence system, has now been in use for nearly 44 years.
The SCHILKA, a self-propelled weapon system, has been in service for 34 years and the twin barrel gun for 31 years.
“Some of the equipment that we are using is almost Second World War's time, like L-70 guns which we got in sixties,” says General Malik.
Some of the air defence systems have been modified cosmetically, but such is the combat inventory that the Army says that some of its Strike Corps could hold nothing by 2010. The blame has been partly laid on the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The Army believes it has reached this critical situation because projects like the Trishul and the Aakash either failed or simply did not meet the deadline.
“The unfortunate part is that the DRDO always puts a spoke to any thing that the armed forces wish to acquire,” says General Prasad.
“They take a huge time--I can give the example of the Arjun tank. It should have been introduced into service nearly 10 years ago and it is still nowhere in the acceptable stage to for the Indian Army. I can give you the example of a simple sten machine carbine. It is 10 years plus that the DRDO has been trying to develop this weapon for the Army and the Army is not able to accept it. Not because the Army doesn’t want to accept it but because it doesn’t meet suit them,” says Prasad.
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