India?s defence forces are battling a new enemy? cash crunch. Several big-ticket buys apart from the 126 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force, artillery guns for the army and mountain strike corps to counter China are stuck due to shortage of funds.
Though the defence ministry recently ruled out any cut in the defence budget, the top brass has been instructed to speed up the spending outlay with a focussed approach on procuring weapons and munitions for operational preparedness.
According to sources, services who have so far used around 40% of the available funds in buying military hardware, have been directed to meet the targets within the remaining months of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013. The bad shape of economy is expected to hit the ongoing modernisation programme of the armed forces.
“The proposed acquisition of artillery guns for the army, 197 light utility helicopters for the IAF and army, 22 Apache combat helicopters for IAF, six submarines and some advanced network centric equipment for all the three services will get delayed thereby impacting battle readiness,” sources said.
Industry sources told FE that there seems to be ?some extreme shortage of funds with the services as the procurement of the spares for the three services is getting effected.”
According to sources, the defence ministry is prioritising its expenditure for the remaining months of the financial year and focusing on purchases that impact on the armed forces’ operational preparedness.
The defence ministry, in the remaining months of this fiscal, plans to speed up infrastructure development projects in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China.
“Increasing connectivity to the region is a priority,” officials said. The army will be embarking on big modernisation programme, which include s acquiring tactical communication system, network centric warfare system, future infantry soldier as a system (F-INSAS) and procurement of radars, sensors and night vision devices.
The navy, apart from ordering about 40 vessels, will also be acquiring six diesel and nuclear submarines. Similarly, the air force is also looking to upgrade its fighters and transport machines.
