New Delhi: While Pakistan is flush with funds and weapons from the United States, and China is modernising its military on a massive scale, the Indian army has presented a bleak picture of its capabilities. The army has admitted to having achieved only 50% of the capabilities required to defend the country's borders and fight insurgency in the north-east and Jammu & Kashmir.
Worse, it will take another 20 years to achieve 100% capability to repel any act of aggression, the army has revealed in an internal assessment report submitted before members of the standing committee on defence.
According to the army's 'state of capability development' assessment, most of its arms, including the infantry, artillery and armoured, would achieve 100% capability only by around 2027.
Beijing has for long been flaunting its capabilities along the border, where it has built up all-weather infrastructure up to the last posts which are equipped with modern amenities.
The shortfall in Indian capability is attributed to the delay in the acquisition of modern systems. The report says the infantry, artillery and mechanised forces have achieved about 60% of the capability required.
The projection is worst in case of combat helicopters, where the army has achieved just 17% capability. The army believes it would achieve 100% combat chopper capability only by the end of the 14th five-year plan in 2027.
The army's efforts at emerging as a modern military with full network-centric capability would also be achieved by 2027 -- currently, the capability stands at 24%. The concept refers to integration of the army into a force sharing real-time information using several networks, improving situation awareness and fighting capabilities.
Equally worrisome is the capability of the key fighting arms of the army.
The artillery has just 52% of the total capability required to defend the country. The figure would touch 97% only by the end of 2027, the report said.
The situation is the result of a lack of any major acquisitions in artillery since the Bofors scandal in the late 1980s. Subsequent scandals involving companies such as Denel and Singapore Technologies, both of which have been blacklisted, further crippled modernisation of the artillery.
The infantry, the army admits in the report, has only achieved 65% of its capability. It will reach the 100% mark only by 2027. The infantry wants to replace its indigenous INSAS rifles, acquire night fighting capabilities, new generation anti-tank missiles and rockets, and better protection for its soldiers.
The armoured regiments have reached 71% of the capability development, the best compared to other arms. The army is producing T-90 tanks indigenously, besides inducting 126 indigenous Arjun tanks. It is also looking at night fighting capability, NBC (nuclear-biological-chemical) protection, and enhanced air manoeuvre capability.
Worse, it will take another 20 years to achieve 100% capability to repel any act of aggression, the army has revealed in an internal assessment report submitted before members of the standing committee on defence.
According to the army's 'state of capability development' assessment, most of its arms, including the infantry, artillery and armoured, would achieve 100% capability only by around 2027.
Beijing has for long been flaunting its capabilities along the border, where it has built up all-weather infrastructure up to the last posts which are equipped with modern amenities.
The shortfall in Indian capability is attributed to the delay in the acquisition of modern systems. The report says the infantry, artillery and mechanised forces have achieved about 60% of the capability required.
The projection is worst in case of combat helicopters, where the army has achieved just 17% capability. The army believes it would achieve 100% combat chopper capability only by the end of the 14th five-year plan in 2027.
The army's efforts at emerging as a modern military with full network-centric capability would also be achieved by 2027 -- currently, the capability stands at 24%. The concept refers to integration of the army into a force sharing real-time information using several networks, improving situation awareness and fighting capabilities.
Equally worrisome is the capability of the key fighting arms of the army.
The artillery has just 52% of the total capability required to defend the country. The figure would touch 97% only by the end of 2027, the report said.
The situation is the result of a lack of any major acquisitions in artillery since the Bofors scandal in the late 1980s. Subsequent scandals involving companies such as Denel and Singapore Technologies, both of which have been blacklisted, further crippled modernisation of the artillery.
The infantry, the army admits in the report, has only achieved 65% of its capability. It will reach the 100% mark only by 2027. The infantry wants to replace its indigenous INSAS rifles, acquire night fighting capabilities, new generation anti-tank missiles and rockets, and better protection for its soldiers.
The armoured regiments have reached 71% of the capability development, the best compared to other arms. The army is producing T-90 tanks indigenously, besides inducting 126 indigenous Arjun tanks. It is also looking at night fighting capability, NBC (nuclear-biological-chemical) protection, and enhanced air manoeuvre capability.
The mechanised units of the army have achieved 62% of the required capabilities, while the engineers have achieved 60%. Special forces and para units have achieved 69% of the capabilities required.Overall, if one were to take the average of individual arms' then the army's "state of capability development" is just over 51%, the report says.
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