Indian Defence Needs Lean Mean Fighting Machine

Some time ago, the Prime Minister expressed the view that our armed forces should be driven by technology and not by an increase in numbers. LT GEN VINOD BHATIA points out where and how the numbers could be reduced to make our forces lean and mean.

- LT Gen Vinod Bhatia

While addressing the Combined Commanders Conference in December 2015 onboard INS Vikramaditya, broad areas for military reforms to include manpower rationalization, defence planning, restructuring higher defence organisation, joint warfare, and defence procurement. His directions challenged the established structures, systems and organisations of India’s military and the mindset of senior military leaders. India is probably one of the two mega nations in the world which is adding to its military might by resorting to manpower accretions. The other nation being the US where the Trump administration has approved a 70,000 or 11 per cent accretion to the army and marines indicating a shift from the way they plan to meet future security challenges. On the other hand, post the September 4, 2015 military parade where China demonstrated its military might, President Xi Jinping surprised the PLA by declaring cuts of 300,000 troops.

It is an established fact that nations always prepare and fight the last war. To assume that the Armed Forces are not prepared to combat future security challenges will be incorrect. However, the concepts, doctrines, capabilities and capacities required may not be adequate. The resistance to structural and systematic changes remains a major weakness. The armed forces are mandated to ensure the territorial integrity of our nation, which also implies securing our borders, 3488 km of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along the India-China border, 772 km of the Line of control (LC) in J&K and 126 km of the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in Siachen Glacier in addition to a 7516 km long coast line. India’s unsettled and porous borders manned by the army lie at altitudes of 4500 meters and above with woefully inadequate infrastructure and extreme climatic conditions demanding