Pakistan Gen. Raheel Sharif’s Superannuation: Evolving Scenarios – Analysis

SOURCE:
http://www.eurasiareview.com/23112016-pakistan-gen-raheel-sharifs-superannuation-evolving-scenarios-analysis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+eurasiareview%2FVsnE+%28Eurasia+Review%29




Pakistan Gen. Raheel Sharif’s Superannuation:                     Evolving Scenarios – Analysis
                                       By
                             Portia B. Conrad*

November 23, 2016

If the retirement of Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif transpires in November 2016, it could have significant strategic implications for Pakistan. Until January 2016, it was expected that Gen Sharif, like his predecessors Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Gen Pervez Musharraf, would receive an extension. However, Gen Sharif has put the speculation regarding his extension to rest and revealed his plan to retire naturally at the culmination of his three-year term. This is an opportune moment to look at the superannuation options for the Gen and possible roles that he might assume.


Gen Sharif became Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff in November 2013 and his appointment broke the established seniority principle. Today, Sharif has become an important power centre in Pakistan’s political conundrum. He calls the shots on all the key strategic initiatives in recent years – which have included Operation Zarb-e-Azb (which commenced in June 2014); National the Action Plan (December 2014); the extension of the Karachi Operations (July 2015); pooling support to block the ban on Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM); and the agreement on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). General Sharif also plays an influential role in revamping Pakistan’s relations with the US, Russia and Iran, and in negotiating with the Afghan Taliban.


Significantly, Gen Sharif has ensured that the civilian leadership headed by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif toes the line of the military establishment. Every resistance from the civilian establishment has been met with a veiled threat of facilitating mid-term elections. However, despite a history of military takeover of political power from the civilian leadership, there has been no mention of a coup under Gen Sharif.

Scenario One: Change of Guard

There have been three sets of reshuffles, transfers and promotions carried out under the supervision of General Raheel Sharif – in December 2013, in April 2015 and in January 2016 – that provide clues to his successorship. Based on these changes, the most likely successor is Chief of General Staff (CGS) Lt Gen Zubair Mahmood Hayat, who is also the former chief of the Strategic Plans Division (SPD). The other contenders include Lt Gen Mazhar Jamil, Director General (DG), SPD; Lt Gen Ishfaq Nadeem, Commander, Multan-based 2 Corps and formerly the CGS; Lt Gen Maqsood Ahmad, who is currently in the US serving as the Military Adviser in the UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations (DPKO). On 29 November 2016, Ahmad will be the senior-most Lieutenant General in Pakistan. Other candidates include Lt Gen Syed Wajid Hussain, Chairman, Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) and former Commandant of School of Armour, Nowshera – who is third in the seniority list; and Lt Gen Najibullah Khan, Director General, Joint Staff, Joint Staff Headquarters, Chaklala – who is fourth in the seniority list.

Scenario Two: Leadership beyond Pakistan

The transition, if it happens, could be complicated considering Gen Sharif’s hold on Pakistan’s internal political and security related issues. Despite the available options, there is also a possibility that Gen Sharif could recommend a titular head under his watch even as he takes up a supervisory role overseeing politics in Pakistan and involving other Islamic nations. He could take up a competent role in the Islamic Military Alliance (IMA) – a 34-nation group formed in 2015, led by Saudi Arabia, including Pakistan, to fight terrorism. A leadership role in the IMA might help project his image as a messiah beyond Pakistan – a regional-cum-religious figure. Gen Sharif presently co-leads a similar coalition of 20-nations called ‘North Thunder’.

Scenario Three: Virtual Retention of Power

In a third scenario, Gen Sharif may create an advisory post within Pakistan which enables him to hold on to power. He could propagate his proven decision making skills to retain a position of influence in the country. For instance, the post of Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) also falls vacant on 29 November 2016.


Theoretically, the CJCSC is the senior-most four-star officer of the Pakistani military. The post is ceremonial, but the incumbent has a say in the deployment and use of nuclear weapons and he is also a principal advisor to the prime minister. The Army would likely be supportive of this arrangement since Gen Sharif’s positive image has benefited in improving the Army’s own image, which had suffered setbacks after Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Abbottabad in 2011.

Conclusion

Despite Pakistani media reports of mysterious banners indicating that Gen Sharif will participate in the upcoming 2018 general elections, there is no authenticity to this speculation. If Gen Sharif keeps to his word and chooses to lead a retired life, there will be little scope for his successor to change the overall contours of Pakistan’s security policy and strategic dimensions on foreign policy in the coming years. The Pakistani military has robust command-and-control and a clear hierarchy; the establishment’s ethos, which pre-date Sharif’s leadership, will persist long after he is gone. Even then, Gen Sharif’s kind of leadership has been unprecedented. His profound ability to balance a proxy war and diplomatic ties make him a distinctive figure in Pakistan even after his superannuation.























































 

Army Launches Massive Counter Assault On Pakistan After Soldier's Beheading

SOURCE:
http://www.msn.com/en-in/news/newsindia/army-launches-massive-counter-assault-on-pakistan-after-soldiers-beheading/ar-AAkEdnN?li=AAggbRN&ocid=iehp




Army Launches Massive Counter Assault On Pakistan After Soldier's Beheading


SRINAGAR:


 The Indian army has launched massive fire assaults on Pakistan along the Line of Control, a day after a soldier was mutilated and two more killed, for which it had vowed "heavy retribution".


The entire Line of Control, the de facto border between India and Pakistan, is now a hot zone with firing at Poonch, Rajouri, Kel and Machil, said the army, indicating that a localized response is not enough after repeated incidents.


On Tuesday, a soldier was beheaded and two others killed by Pakistani commandos who crossed over at Machil. Just three weeks ago, another soldier was beheaded not far from the spot. "Retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act," the army said in a statement.


COMPLETE COVERAGE: India-Pakistan standoff
                                                                                                                [CLICK ]


120 mm heavy mortars and machine guns are being used in the attack on Pakistani army posts.

The soldiers were ambushed while they were on a patrol in the Machil sector in north Kashmir by the Border Action Team of the Pakistan army. Indian posts are closer to Pakistan in this sector and the rugged terrain and thicker forests gives intruders an advantage.


The army said today's assault is a direct message that mutilation is not acceptable and India's response will be quick and massive.


ALSO ON MSN: Army set for maximum retaliation


Pakistan has denied the incident and termed the reports as false and baseless.

Last month, terrorists helped by Pakistani troops mutilated the body of 27-year-old Sepoy Mandeep Singh before running back into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.


ALSO READ: Soldier's body mutilated




Eighteen soldiers, including five from the Border Security Force, have died in firing from Pakistan while India says it has killed at least 29 Pakistani troops in retaliation.

There has been a spurt in ceasefire violations since the September surgical strikes, when Indian soldiers crossed over the Line of Control and destroyed staging areas for terrorists who were getting ready to enter India to carry out a series of attacks. The strikes were seen as India's response to the Uri attack in which 19 soldiers were killed by terrorists from Pakistan.

After the attack, the army said it reserved the right to respond to any cross-border terror attack "at the time and place of our own choosing".

WATCH:
Were surgical strikes really a deterrent


                                [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaNtd5_R8CQ ]

                                     [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnL6b0xX6lk ]

                                              [  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYoJM8IG4Ng ]

 

INDO PAK LOC : ANSWER TO BEHEADINGS PAKIS UNDERSTAND ONLY THIS LANGUAGE

SOURCE:
http://www.msn.com/en-in/news/newsindia/body-of-soldier-mutilated-after-3-were-killed-near-line-of-control-in-jammu-and-kashmir/ar-AAkBSpc?li=AAggbRN&ocid=iehp












                                      PAKIS  UNDERSTAND

                  ONLY THIS LANGUAGE

                   

 

  Indo-Pak Standoff

Body of Indian Soldier Mutilated after 3 were killed near LoC in J&K

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  An Indian soldier in Kashmir was beheaded and two others killed by Pakistani commandos who crossed the Line of Control at Machil. Just three weeks ago, Sepoy Mandeep Singh was beheaded not far from the spot; the army has, just like then, vowed revenge.

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  WATCH:

• Soldier Beheaded near LoC in J&K

 

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  "Retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act," the army said in a statement. The intruders, believed to be from the Border Action Team of the Pakistan army, have allegedly escaped. In the Machil sector, Indian posts are closer to Pakistan and the rugged terrain and thicker forests gives infiltrators an advantage.
  Full Coverage: India-Pak standoff

• 
   Last month, terrorists mutilated the body of 27-year-old Mandeep Singh before running back into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, under cover fire provided by the Pakistan army. The army said the incident reflected barbarism in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan and asserted, "the incident will be responded to appropriately."

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  Seventeen soldiers have died in firing from Pakistan in less than a month.

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  There has been a spurt in ceasefire violations since the September surgical strikes, when Indian soldiers crossed over the Line of Control and destroyed staging areas for terrorists who were getting ready to enter India to carry out a series of attacks. The strikes were seen as India's response to the Uri attack in which 19 soldiers were killed by terrorists from Pakistan.

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  WATCH: What is Line of Control?
  

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•                    

Published on Oct 3, 2014

 

 

an exclusive one-hour programme on the 740 kilometer Line of Control (LOC), the military frontline between India and Pakistan.

Watch what it takes to keep the Line of Control efficiently managed, secure and peaceful. The programme looks at the formidable challenge of managing the treacherous frontline in that region starting from the plains and weaning its way into hills and jungle terrain and ending at the snowy heights short of a glacier.
In the programme, viewers will travel with the Indian officers and soldiers to understand how they defend the LOC, with training manoeuvres and border patrols. Moving along the LOC from Jammu till Poonch and then from Uri to Keran, where the terrain ranges from the plains near Jammu to hills and jungles, until the start of high altitude mountains north of Uri, the programme looks at what the LOC means in that sector.

Throughout the one-hour, viewers will meet soldiers on the ground and record their experience in defending this military frontline. It includes interviews with senior commanders discuss how soldiers are continuously trained in new tactics, equipment and technology.

Nirbhay Subsonic Cruise Missile

SOURCE:
http://www.defencenews.in/article.aspx?id=39351



REF TO ;

http://bcvasundhra.blogspot.in/2016/12/nirbhay-subsonic-cruise-missile-utter.html



After MTCR Membership, India to once again test Nirbhay Cruise Missile in Dec
                                  By
                   SPUTNIK  News   


Tuesday, November 22, 2016

What is a Cruise Missile : For details CLICK url  to read

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile 

Weapons: Why is India keen on developing the subsonic cruise missile Nirbhaya, when it already has the supersonic cruise missile Brahmos?

What can a subsonic cruise missile do that a supersonic cruise missile cannot?

The answer is the range of the missile which differs significantly from subsonic to Supersonic. As you may heard about tomahawk cruise missile, it’s a subsonic missile.

Let’s just compare Tomahawk and BrahMos missiles.

Range:

• Tomahawk-: 1300KM - 2500KM
• BrahMos-: 300 KM- 500 KM (only 20% of Tomahawk’s max range)

Weight:

• Tomahawk-: 1600 Kg
• Brahmos-: 3000Kg(Just double of Tomahawk)

From above comparison we can say that just to achieve the supersonic speed brahmos need to burn double fuel than the Tomahawk but it could only reach the 20% of max range of tomahawk.

That’s why India is keen to develop a subsonic missile.

for further reference you might go through these links

Tomahawk (missile)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk__(missile

A sub sonic missile travels vastly slower than a supersonic missile. Therefore it'd take much longer to reach a target. And the efficient engine it has, compared to the supersonic missile would allow it to 'loiter' over a target area. In other words, once the missile is overhead and is put on a "loiter" pattern, the government can make a decision as to whether a strike still needs to be carried out or not. If they choose not to, the missile can be safely self destructed well above the target. Also, as explained  above  you do not need as much fuel and therefore as much weight to strike the intended target. This means that a sub-sonic missile can either travel much farther than a supersonic one or carry more ordnance.

(An image of the famous Tomahawk cruise missile. It is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile named after the Native American word for 'axe.' Introduced by McDonnell Douglas in the 1970s, it was initially designed as a medium to long-range, low-altitude missile that could be launched from a surface platform. It has been improved several times, and due to corporate divestitures and acquisitions, is now made by Raytheon.)

(an image of the world's only in-production supersonic cruise missile, Brahmos. It is a short range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.

It is a joint venture between the Russian Federation's NPO Mashinostroeyenia and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO) who have together formed BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited.)

In cases where speed is not of essence, and to reach a target farther away or more heavily "hardened," (such as command and control buildings, Headquarters etc.,) a sub-sonic missile is necessary. In a hypothetical situation where we need to strike a terrorist camp, a sub-sonic missile can loiter over the intended target area and wait until it is appropriate to strike, inorder to minimise collateral damage and civilian casualties.

Also, by virtue of their slower speed, the sub-sonic missiles can fly closer to the ground using the "terrain hugging" (or 'nap of the earth') tactic and more efficiently evade enemy radar detection (because of the earth's curvature, radar waves after a certain distance will be unable to detect low flying aircrafts or missiles). While the advantage of a supersonic missile is its speed, which means reduced reaction time for the enemy, the advantage for the sub-sonic missile is greater range/payload and greatly reduced odds of detection.

The enemy cannot run from a supersonic missile, and similarly he would not realise what just hit him if its a sub-sonic missile

                                                

Has India’s recent membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) made a difference in the indigenously designed and developed long range sub-sonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’?


India has to depend on indigenous technology so far because it was not a member of MTCR. This led to two failures and one partial success. The missile has recently undergone changes and Indian scientists are geared for a fourth test in December this year.

“A low-flight trial (Of Nirbhaya) will be held next month. This will be followed by two more flights. Work on the air variant is on,” said Aeronautical Development Establishment Director M V K V Prasad.

India’s Defense Ministry had claimed success in some operations that the missile had performed during its last test lasting over 11 minutes.

“DRDO needs to get over the critical challenges experienced in stability of the missile in flight over long range which has led to abortion of the mission twice so far,” defense analyst Brigadier Rahul Bhonsle (retired) said.

India had sanctioned the project in 2010 with plans to complete it after three years. Later on, Government had extended the date of completion and adds extra cost to the project.

Of late, it was speculated that plans to extend the range of Indo-Russian BrahMos missile may sink the Nirbhay project.

“Technically speaking a BrahMos with extended range and Nirbhay are two separate projects by different agencies. Thus the move to extend the range of BrahMos should not impact the development of the Nirbhay. What is to be decided is do we want two sets of cruise missiles – one with a range of 600 and another 1,000 kms? Is there an operational requirement of the two categories of missiles for the armed forces and is there enough money to develop both?” asked Bhonsle.

However, the Governments wants to provide full backing to a completely indigenous project as it will give the defense planners greater autonomy in production and deployment.

Tracking Ties Between Pakistan’s ISI & India’s NortEeast Militant Groups

SOURCE:
http://www.msn.com/en-in/news/newsindia/tracking-ties-between-pakistan%e2%80%99s-isi-and-india%e2%80%99s-northeast-militant-groups/ar-AAkzghc?li=AAggbRN&ocid=iehp








         Tracking Ties Between Pakistan’s ISI 
                                         &
               India’s NortEeast Militant Groups

Major General
Sir Walter Joseph Cawthorn, CB, CIE, CBE
         (11 June 1896 – 4 December 1970)
   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cawthorn]


Established in the wake of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-8 by the Australian army officer Major-General Walter Cawthorne, then Deputy Chief of Staff in the Pakistan Army, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for years remained an under-developed and obscure agency. In 1979, the organisation's growing importance was felt during the Soviet war in Afghanistan , as it worked hand in glove with the CIA to support the mujahideen resistance, but its activities received little coverage in news media.Since that time, the ISI has projected its influence across the region - in 1988 its involvement in Indian Kashmir came under increasing scrutiny, and by 1995 its mentoring of what became the Afghan Taliban was well attested. But it was the organisation's alleged links with Al Qaeda and the discovery of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, at the heart of Pakistan's military zone, that really threw it under the spotlight. These controversies and many more have dogged the ISI, including its role in Pakistan's testing of a nuclear weapon in 1998 and its links with A.Q. Khan.Offering fresh insights into the ISI as a domestic and international actor based on intimate knowledge of its inner workings and key individuals, this startlingly original book uncovers the hitherto shady world of Pakistan's secret service.

 

Several groups of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) cadres travelled to Pakistan during the 1990s to receive training with the help of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), according to a new book on the spy agency.

Links between Pakistan and militant groups in India’s northeastern states date back to the 1960s, when the neighbouring country had supplied weapons to Naga militants, author Hein G Kiessling writes in his book ‘Faith, Unity, Discipline: The ISI of Pakistan’.

WATCH: 2 jawans martyred in encounter with ULFA in Assam's Tinsukia

Kiessling, a historian who forged contacts with Pakistani military and intelligence officials while living in the country between 1989 and 2002, writes there was a temporary halt to weapons supplies after the 1971 war that led to the birth of Bangladesh.

However, ties between Pakistan and militant groups in the northeastern states were never completely broken off and they were revitalised in the 1980s.

“In 1990, via the Pakistan embassy in Dhaka, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and United Liberated Front of Asom (ULFA) developed contacts with the ISI… In January 1991, with the help of the ISI, several high-ranking ULFA leaders travelled to Pakistan to sign a training agreement for ULFA cadres,” he writes.

In 1991, two six-member ULFA groups arrived in Islamabad for training and a third 10-member group followed in 1993.

“The ISI’s auxiliary support for operations of this kind covered more than just the training courses in Pakistan. Well in advance, new identities and fake passports had to be procured, travel routes determined and the financing of the whole operation had to be secured,” the book says.

“In this way, the Pakistan embassy in Dhaka became an important ISI station, the hub of its operations in northeast India. In the ISI directorate in Islamabad, they must have been content with the results of the first training courses for ULFA fighters, since they continued through the 1990s and were extended to include other underground groups.”

The ISI procured weapons for the northeastern militant groups from countries such as Thailand and Cambodia, from where they were shipped to Bangladesh before being smuggled into India.

“In Thailand, after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia from the 1980s onwards, light weapons and light machine guns awaited prospective buyers, so new supply opportunities opened up. Thus in 1991 the ISI provided weapons from Thailand to a group of 240 NSCN members,” the book says.

Small boats brought the weapons to the Bangladeshi port of Cox’s Bazaar, which “became the hub for weapon supplies in the region”. NSCN and ULFA fighters fetched the weapons from Bangladesh and took them back to their bases.

The book quotes an unnamed prominent Naga militant, imprisoned by Indian authorities, as saying that he received $1.7 million in three instalments from the ISI in the 1990s for weapon purchases. The ISI also received support in arms procurement “from their Chinese colleagues”, the book adds.

“As far back as 1993, ULFA had contacts with the Chinese military. The first weapons supply came from a Chinese ship in 1995, another in 1997 by a land route through Bhutan,” the book says.

© Provided by Hindustan Times

   Kiessling writes there are indications that the “ISI is still present and active in northeast India”. In August 1999, Assam Police announced the arrest of two ISI officers and two local agents. “The officers came from Karachi and Lahore,” he writes.

“The ISI uses such agents for special missions, constructs sleeper cells, infiltrates local organisations, brings counterfeit money into the region and is responsible for acts of terror. Nor could they pass up the chance to expand their influence over madrasas in northeast India through their network of contacts and confidants,” the book adds.

INDIAN ARMY : THIRD GRADE MANAGEMENT SECOND GRADE LEADERSHIP & FIRST CLASS MANPOWER

SOURCE:  CURTSEY THE TRIBUNE
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/people/soldier-s-life-no-cheap-sir/325511.html

 RESULT OF  ABDICATION OF CIVIL

GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF ARMED

FORCES TO BUREAUCRATIC SETUP ON
  
              
                INDIAN ARMED FORCES  

                       IN  PARTICULAR :



                             THIRD GRADE        

            BUREAUCRATIC MANAGEMENT 

              SECOND GRADE LEADERSHIP

                                         & 

                 FIRST CLASS TRAINED  
                                          &            
      DISCIPLINED JUNIOR MANPOWER

                                                                         -  VASUNDHRA


           *************************

              Soldier’s Life No Cheap, Sir

                                  BY

                    DINESH KUMAR

             TRIBUNE CHANDIGARH

Delays & Deficiencies

 

• Rifle: Tenders floated to acquire 1,85,000 assault rifles

• Delay: The Army decided to issue the new tender following rejection of Excalibur rifle that was offered by the DRDO-Ordinance Factory Board combine

• Light-weight helmets: The Army has been demanding this for over two decades. Plans reportedly afoot to buy 1.58 lakh ballistic helmets

• Bullet-proof jackets & gadgetry: Projected as urgent operational requirements over the last 15 years. The defence ministry is now looking at the enormity of accumulated deficit

• Shoes: Over a decade later, Army continues to await 8 lakh superior quality PT shoes for its troops

 

Ever wondered about the plight of the Army’s Infantry soldier! Dressed in battle fatigues, the semi-literate rifle-wielding soldier from a rural or semi-urban part of the country spends much of his career patrolling and guarding disputed borders with China and Pakistan in tough terrains that range from hilly jungles to very high-altitude barren, rocky mountains and glaciers and in extreme weather conditions.


For the last 60 years, starting the Infantry soldier has been fighting a bleeding and fatiguing irregular war against terrorists and insurgents. Soldiers have silently suffered hostility, at best, indifference of sections of people in parts of J&K and some states in the northeast. Plus, they have to help in times of natural disasters such as earthquake, floods and landslides.


Yet the Infantry’s 382 battalions, which comprise the largest arm of the Army, are also among the most neglected and lacking even in some basic equipment. Lost in the race for acquiring the more glamorous and highly expensive ‘big ticket; items such as tanks, artillery, surface-to-air missiles, helicopters etc, the not-so-glamorous Infantryman does not evoke the same level of urgency even though it is the public face of the Army and bears the maximum casualties whether during war or peace. 


In April 2005 the Army conceived a major modernization plan for the Infantry with the fancy title of F-INSAS (Futuristic Infantry Soldier as a System). The project, spread over three phases and originally scheduled to have begun rolling out in stages from 2012 to 2020, is meant to upgrade, if not altogether revolutionize, the Infantry into an ultra-modern fighting machine. The aim is to provide the soldier with lethality, mobility, survivability, communications and situational awareness. The F-INSAS is based on five major technologies: (i) modular weapons; (ii) body armour and individual equipment; (iii) weapon sights and hand-held target acquisition devices; (iv) communication equipment to enable soldiers to transmit and receive complex voice, data and video systems; and (v) portable computers for soldiers and officers. 


The ambitious programme has made little progress and compares poorly with the ground realities 11 years after the project was conceived. Let alone modular assault rifles with interchangeable barrels (7.62 mm for counter-insurgency operations and 5.56 mm for conventional warfare), the Army has been unable to replace the existing and flawed 5.56 mm indigenously produced INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) rifle. A global tender floated in 2011 has been cancelled as all the competitors failed to clear the trials. 


The Infantry needs 1,85,000 new and better assault rifles which continue to remain elusive. But let alone buying new rifles, the Army has been unable to even change the orange colour of the existing INSAS rifles which compromises the camouflage of the soldiers thus putting them to risk.


The Infantry presents a microcosm of the existing deficiencies in the Army which includes even basic and non-lethal items. Starting from 1,26,270 mosquito nets, 1,86,092 brown canvas rubber sole shoes with laces and 2,17,388 high-ankle boots, the Infantry is suffering a shortfall of 4,47,000 ski masks (required in the mountains) and three lakh bullet-proof vests, which can help protect the lives of soldiers in counter-insurgency operations and along the Line of Control. There is uncertainty over the current tenders for 44,600 carbines and 4,097 light machine guns that the Infantry is in dire need of even as about 1,000 Infantry combat vehicles need an upgrade. One other ‘small stuff’ is the need to replace the existing thin brown canvas shoes with proper sports shoes. Over 10 years later, the Army continues to await 8 lakh superior quality PT shoes for its troops. 


The Army is already suffering a woeful shortfall of ammunition including the Armoured Corps, Artillery, Air Defence and Infantry. So severe is the deficiency in ammunition that the Army’s War Wastage Reserve (WWR) has fallen from the required 40 days to between 15 and 20 days.

                                       In other words,

 the Army does not have ammunition enough to fight a war for more than 15-20 days. 


The depletion of the WWR is partly also because the Army is being forced to divert resources to raise a new Mountain Strike Corps (17 Corps). The first of its kind Mountain Strike Corps, sanctioned in July 2013 and to be raised by 2021, is being established at a cost of Rs 65,000 crore and will add 90,274 more soldiers and 32 new Infantry battalions. This will increase the number of existing Infantry battalions to 414. The WWR is expected to reach 100 percent only in 2019. Owing to delays in the F-INSAS project which has since been restructured and modified, the Infantry is a long way from becoming a fully networked all-terrain, all-weather personal-equipment platform with enhanced firepower and mobility for the digitalized battlefield of the future. The Infantry soldier’s wait has only become longer.

dkumar@tribunemail.com