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India-Pakistan
India's air defenses largely obsolete, says army chief
2012-03-29
NEW DELHI: Obsolete air defense and a severe shortage of ammunition weaken India's defense capabilities, the head of the army told the prime minister in a letter leaked yesterday, plunging the army's relations with the government to new lows.
My bet is that the Indian military chiefs are every bit as good at playing their parliament as US military chiefs are at playing Congress...
How good can the American chiefs be, if their budgets are cut so drastically?
In the letter dated March 12, excerpts of which were printed by the DNA newspaper, Army Chief Vijay Kumar Singh said the tank fleet of the world's second-largest standing army was devoid of ammunition, elite special forces were "woefully short" of essential weapons and air defense was 97 percent obsolete.

"The state of the major (fighting) arms i.e., Mechanized Forces, Artillery, Air Defense, Infantry and Special Forces, as well as the Engineers and Signals, is indeed alarming," Singh wrote in the letter.

Sandwiched between fellow nuclear powers China and Pakistan, India is the world's top weapons importer. It is spending billions of dollars updating equipment purchased from Moscow in Soviet times, but it often takes decades to finalize contracts. Procurement has been slowed by corruption scandals.

Defense Minister A.K. Antony confirmed the existence of the letter and said it should not have been made public. Politicians from all parties reacted angrily and some called for the army chief's resignation if he was found to be behind the leak.

"The government is determined to do all that is needed to continue to assure the safety and security of India," Antony told parliament. "Publishing secret documents will not help the nation." In a rare show of unity, opposition parties rallied around the government, a sign of concerns about the army chief's habit of challenging his civilian masters.
Posted by:Steve White

#3  See also CHINESE MIL FORUM > RELATED > INDIA'S MILITARY IS AS ROTTEN AS INDIA'S POLITICAL SYSTEM | [The Hindu] I WAS OFFERED Rs$14 CRORE AS BRIBE, SAYS ARMY CHIEF [Singh], to ignore purchase of large numbers of defective military vehicles + equipment.

[SGT SCHULTZ here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-03-30 00:00  

#2  Not what you want to be telling the Chinese.
Posted by: gromky   2012-03-29 22:53  

#1  El Hefe discovered that now all by Himself, did He???

Obvious thingys are obvious.

* IIRC WAFF [old] > INDIA'S PILOTS ARE SCARED OF THEIR MIGS, thus of course Indjuh keeps buying 'em.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-03-29 22:27  

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