Zarvan
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NEW DELHI: The Army is slowly but surely expanding and modernising its clandestine warfare arm, with two more Para-Special Forces battalions now being raised in tune with its operational doctrine. Navy and IAF, too, are strengthening their Special Forces with specialized weaponry.
But there is still "no forward movement" on the urgent need to bring the country's diverse Special Forces, which report to disparate authorities, under a single operational command to ensure they can be used as "strategic assets" for larger national security objectives.
Neither the Naresh Chandra taskforce's strong recommendation for a Special Operations Command (SOC), nor the chiefs of staff committee's proposal for three additional tri-Service commands - cyber, Special Forces and space - has so far figured on the Modi government's radar.
"Till there is unity in command and control of Special Forces, at least of the military if not the paramilitary ones, India's unconventional warfare arm will never get the sharp edge it requires. We have relegated our Special Forces to the tactical and operational domain, instead of focusing on them as strategic assets to be used with decisive effect," says a top officer.
The armed forces, however, are all gung-ho about their own elite forces, even though there is a "joint doctrine for Special Forces operations". Navy, for instance, is now hunting for new "underwater special purpose crafts" for their marine commandos or "Marcos", who are modelled on the famed US Navy SEALs. Incidentally, it was SEAL Team Six which killed Osama bin Laden at Abbottabad on May 2, 2011.
The Army, in turn, is raising two Para-SF battalions to add to the eight Para-SF and five Para (Airborne) battalions it already has for surveillance, target-designation, out-of-area contingencies, surgical strikes and hit-and-run operations.
"The raising of the first new Para-SF battalion will be completed by next year, while the second will be in place by 2017-2018," said an officer. Concurrently, the Army is also stitching up contracts to modernise its existing 13 battalions, each with around 620 soldiers, apart from training them in Chinese and other foreign languages.
The Rs 70 lakh contract for 33 "underwater open-circuit diving equipment" from Sweden, for instance, has already been inked. Then, there is the "controlled aerial delivery system" to drop specialised payloads in designated target areas behind enemy lines.
The equipment being inducted ranges from 5.56mm TAR-21 Tavor assault rifles, 7.62mm Galil sniper rifles, M4A1 carbines, all-terrain multi-utility vehicles and GPS navigation systems to modular acquisition devices, laser range-finders, high-frequency communication sets and combat free-fall parachutes.
Experts, however, contend a tri-Service SOC is the need of the hour to holistically plan and execute "irregular warfare". Special Forces operations, of course, have to be backed by "actionable intelligence", which again is still enmeshed in turf wars in India. The armed forces have only two unified commands as of now, one in the military outpost of Andaman and Nicobar archipelago and the Strategic Forces Command to handle nuclear weapons.
Para-special forces get two new battalions - TOI Mobile | The Times of India Mobile Site
But there is still "no forward movement" on the urgent need to bring the country's diverse Special Forces, which report to disparate authorities, under a single operational command to ensure they can be used as "strategic assets" for larger national security objectives.
Neither the Naresh Chandra taskforce's strong recommendation for a Special Operations Command (SOC), nor the chiefs of staff committee's proposal for three additional tri-Service commands - cyber, Special Forces and space - has so far figured on the Modi government's radar.
"Till there is unity in command and control of Special Forces, at least of the military if not the paramilitary ones, India's unconventional warfare arm will never get the sharp edge it requires. We have relegated our Special Forces to the tactical and operational domain, instead of focusing on them as strategic assets to be used with decisive effect," says a top officer.
The armed forces, however, are all gung-ho about their own elite forces, even though there is a "joint doctrine for Special Forces operations". Navy, for instance, is now hunting for new "underwater special purpose crafts" for their marine commandos or "Marcos", who are modelled on the famed US Navy SEALs. Incidentally, it was SEAL Team Six which killed Osama bin Laden at Abbottabad on May 2, 2011.
The Army, in turn, is raising two Para-SF battalions to add to the eight Para-SF and five Para (Airborne) battalions it already has for surveillance, target-designation, out-of-area contingencies, surgical strikes and hit-and-run operations.
"The raising of the first new Para-SF battalion will be completed by next year, while the second will be in place by 2017-2018," said an officer. Concurrently, the Army is also stitching up contracts to modernise its existing 13 battalions, each with around 620 soldiers, apart from training them in Chinese and other foreign languages.
The Rs 70 lakh contract for 33 "underwater open-circuit diving equipment" from Sweden, for instance, has already been inked. Then, there is the "controlled aerial delivery system" to drop specialised payloads in designated target areas behind enemy lines.
The equipment being inducted ranges from 5.56mm TAR-21 Tavor assault rifles, 7.62mm Galil sniper rifles, M4A1 carbines, all-terrain multi-utility vehicles and GPS navigation systems to modular acquisition devices, laser range-finders, high-frequency communication sets and combat free-fall parachutes.
Experts, however, contend a tri-Service SOC is the need of the hour to holistically plan and execute "irregular warfare". Special Forces operations, of course, have to be backed by "actionable intelligence", which again is still enmeshed in turf wars in India. The armed forces have only two unified commands as of now, one in the military outpost of Andaman and Nicobar archipelago and the Strategic Forces Command to handle nuclear weapons.
Para-special forces get two new battalions - TOI Mobile | The Times of India Mobile Site
