Article Posted on : - Dec 02, 2010

NEW DELHI (PTI): Army Chief Gen V K Singh Thursday said India has no "Cold Start" doctrine as claimed in the secret American documents and dismissed the US perception about the Indian Army being "slow and lumbering".

"There is nothing called 'Cold Start' (doctrine) in the Indian Army. We don't have anything called 'Cold Start'," he told PTI reacting to wikileak documents in which US Ambassador Timothy Roemer analyses India's military approach towards Pakistan in the wake of 26/11 attacks.

He also dismissed Roemer's description of the Indian army's mobilisation process as "slow and lumbering", saying that is "his perception" with which he does not agree.

"We don't necessarily agree with that perception. We know what has to be done," Gen Singh underlined.

He said the Indian army has "things in place" and "We practice our contingency depending on situations. We are confident that we will be able to exercise the contingency when the time comes."

Asked about the slow process of modernisation of the Armed forces, Gen Singh explained that it is mainly due to procedures and the fact that authorities want to be cautious to ensure nothing goes wrong.

Gen Singh said "We are aware that the modernisation process is subject to procedures of procurement. It takes at least two years, sometimes it may take more because somebody raises an issue about a company--that this company is doing this and that. It may be blacklisted. It happened in the case of Bofors.

"Procedurally we have problems because this is a democracy and nobody wants to take a chance."

To a question whether with all these problems India could be called a fighting force, he asserted, "100 per cent. We are capable of achieving what we want."

He said that no force anywhere could have 100 per cent modernisation. "Anywhere, ideally, 30 per cent will be old legacy, 30-40 per cent will be in the process of modernisation and another 30-40 per cent will be totally modernised."

The Army Chief said in a big country like India, it will take time because of manufacturing and other issues.

"All that I can say is that whatever we have, whether it is old or otherwise, we are still capable of what we want to achieve," he emphasised.