How Defense Forces have Changed?
Written By Pankaj Jayswal.
Neighbors are very important for any country to maintain peace, harmony and make inroads for social and economic development. Unfortunately, India is surrounded by a country like Pakistan which believes in terrorism, cross-border infiltration, and religious extremism, and China which believes in the expansion of territory by whatever means possible and creating social unrest by training and providing arms and ammunition to Naxalites.
So to counter these two countries India should be ready on both fronts simultaneously, having adverse situations, the disadvantage of the geographic location at many places, and adverse environmental conditions. Cross-border terrorism by Pakistan and China’s support to Naxalism in India and misadventures at the border by both countries, has led to a strong need for tactical and technologically advanced Defense Forces for India.
Though our armed forces are strong and have shown their capabilities from the beginning, they were not developed/provided with technological advancements from time to time and proper support for living at the border areas due to poor political will. Even in such worst conditions, our armed forces are securing our borders and country from all sides with strong determination.
What has changed in the last 7 years?
A War Reserved Stock (WRS) also known as the free positioned stock was just for seven to ten days even for a short intense war before 2014. We were not in a position to handle even a short intense war due to insufficient stock of arms and ammunition to take care of our borders, this situation continued till 2017, however consecutive steps to make our forces strong by the Modi government led to big transformation after the year 2017 with concrete steps, supportive policy decisions, empowering defense forces in decision making and providing huge finances, OROP….
Today, we are having 20 days of arms and ammunition reserved for a short intense War. Even we are capable of long and intense War for 10 days. We have to keep ourselves ready for both the front’s, China and Pakistan. So the strategy adopted by our armed forces and government is to tackle both the countries simultaneously even if that situation arises, ammunition stocks ranging from rockets and missiles to high-caliber tanks and artillery shells are inducted or being developed for a full-blown War for over ten days with an eventual aim to have adequate stockpiles in place to last for 40 days.
The earlier huge deficiencies in several types of critical ammunition have already been substantially plugged. More thrust is given on indigenous production of Defense arms and ammunition to reduce imports and to become a export-oriented country. We have achieved that in a big way and still working on it to add more and more export capabilities from fighter aircraft and heavy artillery to anti-submarine aircraft and stealth frigates. We are developing and Manufacturing many defense armaments in India under Prime Minister Modi’s Flagship initiative “Make In India” with the help of DRDO, technology transfer, and companies like TATA, L & T, and so on. India’s Armed forces are being strengthened like never before and facilities at the border have been improved especially in the remote and inhospitable areas.
There is a big list of arms and ammunition purchased from different countries and developed and manufactured indigenously by the Modi government in the last six years. So the spending on the Armed Forces is very high compared to the earlier government’s expenditure.
• Rafale fighter jets 36
• P8I aircrafts
• Navy frigates
• Weapon locating radars
• Smerch rockets
• Barak sta missiles
• Apache helicopters
• MI 17 helicopters
• Mine countermeasure vessels
• Akash Missiles
• Chinook helicopters
• Kamov Ka-226 helicopters
• Ultra light Howitzers
• LRSAM
• BVRAAM
• AEW&C
• MALE UAV
• ATAGS
• Tejas aircrafts
• INS Kochi
• INS Kalvari
• Varunastra
• Mareech
• INS Astradharini
• Bramhos integrated with Sukhoi Su -30
• 32 hawks
• HTT 40 aircraft
• Dhanush Artillery gun system
These are some of the arms and ammunition but the list goes on. Many types of equipment are under manufacturing or partially or fully delivered.
This has strengthened our Armed Forces to counter on both fronts. So if we see this counter mechanism developed over these last six years has created panic in our enemy countries knowing that India is also powerful to tackle any situation and can answer to any misadventure by both the countries. India has already shown muscle and power in Doklam, Galwan and other conflicting situations arising at the border during the last six years. So this has strengthened our position significantly in the Global scenario.
So some people are crying about petrol and diesel prices, I request them to look into these aspects where the security of our country should be our main concern and if the security of a country is comprised then the country will see worst days in future. So rather than crying for all these petty things. Let’s see it with a broader vision and support the government for their initiatives for strengthening our country and moving towards making it a global superpower.