Zarvan
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New Delhi: Amidst the raging row over bribery allegations, Army Chief General VK Singh is reported to have written a letter to the Prime Minister, stating the countrys security might be at risk owing to the fact that tanks are running out of ammunition, air defence is going obsolete and the infantry is operating without critical weapons.
According to DNA, Gen Singh wrote the letter to PM Manmohan Singh on March 12, two weeks before making an explosive revelation that he was offered Rs 14 crore bribe to clear a defence purchase.
In the letter, the Army Chief who also had a recent run-in with the government over his date of birth controversy asked the PM to pass suitable directions to enhance the preparedness of the Army.
Gen Singh wrote to the PMO after he failed to get a response from the Defence Ministry. It is no secret that following the row with South Block which houses the Defence Ministry over his birth date, the Army Chief has had to face a bureaucracy that seems reluctant to process files.
Also, experts and observers have criticised the Manmohan Singh-led government, which first came to power in May 2004 and then won a re-election in 2009, for not having made any big ticket defence purchases.
The state of the major (fighting) arms i.e. Mechanised Forces, Artillery, Air Defence, Infantry and Special Forces, as well as the Engineers and Signals, is indeed alarming, Gen Singh wrote in his letter, reported DNAs Saikat Datta.
In his letter, the Army Chief stated that while there is lack of critical ammunition for the entire tank fleet, the countrys air defence is 97% obsolete and it doesn't give the deemed confidence to protect from the air.
Also, the infantry is crippled with deficiencies of crew served weapon and lacks night fighting capabilities. Elite Special Forces, on the other hand, are woefully short of essential weapons.
Lamenting the complex and slow defence procurement procedures, Gen Singh said that there was hollowness in the present system.
He also hit out at indigenous ordnance factories, saying they produce weapon systems and other fighting material of poor quality with no sense of urgency.
Stating the shortcomings were severely eroding the Army's preparedness, he stressed on the need to urgently mitigate these critical deficiencies that are impacting the operational capability of a 1.3million-strong Army.
New Delhi: Amidst the raging row over bribery allegations, Army Chief General VK Singh is reported to have written a letter to the Prime Minister, stating the countrys security might be at risk owing to the fact that tanks are running out of ammunition, air defence is going obsolete and the infantry is operating without critical weapons.
According to DNA, Gen Singh wrote the letter to PM Manmohan Singh on March 12, two weeks before making an explosive revelation that he was offered Rs 14 crore bribe to clear a defence purchase.
In the letter, the Army Chief who also had a recent run-in with the government over his date of birth controversy asked the PM to pass suitable directions to enhance the preparedness of the Army.
Gen Singh wrote to the PMO after he failed to get a response from the Defence Ministry. It is no secret that following the row with South Block which houses the Defence Ministry over his birth date, the Army Chief has had to face a bureaucracy that seems reluctant to process files.
Also, experts and observers have criticised the Manmohan Singh-led government, which first came to power in May 2004 and then won a re-election in 2009, for not having made any big ticket defence purchases.
The state of the major (fighting) arms i.e. Mechanised Forces, Artillery, Air Defence, Infantry and Special Forces, as well as the Engineers and Signals, is indeed alarming, Gen Singh wrote in his letter, reported DNAs Saikat Datta.
In his letter, the Army Chief stated that while there is lack of critical ammunition for the entire tank fleet, the countrys air defence is 97% obsolete and it doesn't give the deemed confidence to protect from the air.
Also, the infantry is crippled with deficiencies of crew served weapon and lacks night fighting capabilities. Elite Special Forces, on the other hand, are woefully short of essential weapons.
Lamenting the complex and slow defence procurement procedures, Gen Singh said that there was hollowness in the present system.
He also hit out at indigenous ordnance factories, saying they produce weapon systems and other fighting material of poor quality with no sense of urgency.
Stating the shortcomings were severely eroding the Army's preparedness, he stressed on the need to urgently mitigate these critical deficiencies that are impacting the operational capability of a 1.3million-strong Army.
