Army Day 2024: How is Our Army Shaping-up???

On 15 Jan 2024, Indian Army celebrates its 76th Army raising Day. The figure itself makes it a proud occasion when some formalities amidst pageantries do take place besides an introspection against the challenges ahead. After India got its independence in 1947, Fd Mshl K M Cariappa (then a Lieutenant General) took over as the first Commander-in-chief of the Indian Army from the last British Commander-in-chief of India on 15 Jan 1949.

Thereafter, this day is always celebrated as Army Day with pride. In these 75 yrs, Indian Army has had all proud moments if we leave the 1962 reversals. This occasion is largely ceremonial with parades, awarding the deserving soldiers, sharing thought with all ranks at unit/formation levels as well as an address by the Chief….all having a single motto of “Service before self”.

Indian Army has always been a highly professional force even under the crunch of resources and upgraded fighting machines in past. Its modernization received a serious setback in last over 3 decades. Till the beginning of the last decade, our Army had serious lack of high Tech weapons. For whatever reasons, the indigenous R&D was extremely slack and import of the state-of-the-art weapons were simply out of question in the absence of funds. We had no efficient battle Tanks, no Howitzers/Artillery system purchased after the infamous Bofors. The hardship was so much that our fighting forces didn’t have even advanced assault rifles. They still had the toy-like INSAS & SLR along with outdated LMGs and MMGs. It was difficult to say who was to blame. Army Commanders didn’t put their foot down for the new acquisitions and the political leadership looked the other way to their needs. It was a mockery of defence strategy when our Raksha Mantri Anthony made a statement in the parliament “We don’t want to develop infrastructure in the border areas along LAC through which the enemy could find access”. With such a mindset prevailing in 2012-13, India thanks its stars that there was no repeat of Chinese hostility post Galwan 2020 that would have put our brave soldiers to perils and made it almost impossible to defend the northern border. It was other matter though that by this time the credible Mountain Strike Force (MSF) was in place and that new infrastructures were making inroads in the border areas.

Thanks to the change of govt in 2014 that changed the mindset to start the rapid infrastructure development all along the LAC. Thereafter, Indian Army stood up to the Chinese challenges whether it was Doklam, Eastern Ladakh, Sikkim or Arunachal. Even our enemy on the western border was told in no uncertain terms that there will be price to pay for their nefarious Jihadi acts in India; and they did pay following surgical strikes in PoK and Balakot. However, the changes in the mindset were firmly backed by modernization plans esp the heavier weapons of Artilleries and Tanks. Both Army and the govt realized their limitations when they realized that they didn’t have assault rifles to take on the PLA.

In a short span of 10 yrs, Army has made sharp gains augmenting its capabilities through advanced weapons. There are comprehensive reforms in the Armed Forces…be it trimming the non-combat element, inducting youthful and Tech-savy Agniveers, adopting pro-active defense posture, restructuring the Ordinance Factories to meet the requirements of modern munitions for most if not all weapons, gearing up inter-services coordination through CDS or moving to the Theatre-Command concept. All these will provide both Tactical and Strategic depth to our forces esp the Army.

The modernisation plan has taken-off from the year 2015-16 with a jump of nearly 96K Cr annual budget and stood at 471.4K Cr last year (Year 2020-21). This is more than double of what stood at 2014-15, yet the overall allocation is just over 2% of the GDP what used to be nearly 2.5% during UPA’s time. It is because of the huge growth of the GDP in the last few years. Thanks to Galwan incidence that urgent OTS purchases were made and then put in place the indigenisation, make-in-India and ‘self-reliant India’ plans for the manufacture and production of the state-of-the-art defense equipment as well as personal protective measures (such as bullet-proof vest, NVG etc). Modi govt has also drastically improved the living conditions of the soldiers, especially in remote and inhospitable areas. The following are some such procurements: -

All defence experts have opined unanimously that if India has to become a major regional/ global power, it must have its own defence hardware. The emphasis is on Made-in-India as well as make in India. Our Armed Forces will ever remain grateful to the Modi Govt for providing most if not all combat requirements. This included upgradations in the indigenous Arjun Tank for, light Howitzers along with some other equipment mentioned above, so urgently required but the procurements of which were held-up during the UPA govt. The biggest strategic push given to the Army is through the creation of a long-awaited self-contained Mountain Strike Force with rapid deployment capabilities.

Towards the indigenous equipment, Modi Govt has done no magic but just assisted the developing agencies to overcome the hurdles and bottlenecks in way of meeting the operational requirements of the army. Today, Arjun Tank Mk-1A has excellent features with 71 major and user-driven upgrades. Features like increased mobility, Fire-power accuracy and its enhanced survivability make it world-class and will immensely benefit the Indian Army. In addition, the indigenous equipment will have in-house upgradations, modifications to continuously upgrade the performance and that marginally higher cost is paid to the companies within India which is for the benefits of Indians. Today, INDRA I & II, Rajendra and Rohini Radars are increasingly being installed by both IAF and Army (as well as by Civil Airports), some with even possessing ECM capabilities. Swathi weapon locating radar is another new acquisition for the Army. Indian Ordnance Factories have been reorganised to meet all munition requirements of the Armed Forces that were largely imported till now.

India is self-reliant in Missiles both with conventional and nuclear warheads. It has a series of them…Prithvi, Agni, Brahmos, Nirbhay and some more. The range of the missiles are from 290 Km to approx. 8,000 Km. The range is further augmented by its capabilities to be launched from bobile platforms be it Aircraft or Ship/Submarines. These missiles have capabilities for Air-to-Air, Air-to-Ground, Air-to-Waters (& Underwater); Surface to Air, Surface to Surface, Surface to Waters (& Underwater) as well as Water to Air, waters and surface. India also has Low Level Radar avoiding Missiles to knock out high value enemy targets. It will be great if our assets in space are fully integrated to the ground systems so as to detect and forewarn of impending enemy movements across the borders well in advance.

Any world class military power has to be self-reliant and India has started this march in 2015. How long it takes for its own ‘Atmnirbhar’ goals, remains to be seen. However, if corrupt netas dont sabotage the objectives, India should become a global power in the next 20 yrs or so. All these capabilities don’t isolate our Army from the traitors and anti-national within who inflict wounds on our soldiers by themselves as well as in collusions with enemies abroad. Jihadi elements in J&K are raising their heads again. Unless dealt firmly, they will pose challenges in Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam too. There were 7 deadly planned attacks in J&K causing death to our precious soldiers esp in Poonch and adjoining sectors. Most experts in defence wonder why a credible pro-active action cannot be taken by our forces to strike them at their hideouts itself across borders itself before they cross-over by various means including burrows and tunnels. Action against terrorist don’t violate ceasefire. Hope govt of the day gives free hand to the Army commanders to deal with Jihadists & terrorists.

Indian Armed Forces has received a substantial face-lift with well-planed procurement policies heading towards self-reliance. The morale of our troops are high. However, there should be zero tolerance against Jihadists and terrorists inflicting damages whatever little that may be. The present Govt has put the Indian Defence manufacturers on a path to making Indian Armed Forces a global power. Indian Army is readying itself to meet the current challenges on all frontiers. On the 76th Army Day, every serving and veteran military personnel will be proud of our force with augmented capabilities. More or less this is kind of Army that we all wish to be part of....projecting as a mighty regional/global power. Best wishes to our forces on this Army Day.