Article Posted on : - Dec 06, 2009

NEW DELHI (PTI): The Indian Army has said that its troops are “fully prepared, battle-worthy and capable” to counter any challenge at short notice.

“Our armed forces are fully prepared, battle-worthy and capable to counter any challenges at very short notice, in keeping with the task assigned to defend the nation,” Army PRO Col S Om Singh said.

“It is further clarified that the combat efficiency of the Army at no point be doubted as the military preparedness and combat efficiency is the foremost and primary task. There has been no compromise in this issue.

“The progress of modernisation is monitored closely at various levels to minimise the shortfall,” Singh said, reacting to media reports that the Army was not fully combat ready and there was a shortfall in the full battle preparedness.

He said modernisation was “a deliberate process and is progressive in nature” and the deficiency of the military hardware was reviewed at regular intervals and replacement projected after deliberation based on the operational requirement and enhancement of operational efficiency.

“The projection of military hardware requirements has already been made and these are at various stages of procurement. The Defence Procurement Procedure is also amended periodically to ensure transparency and effectiveness in procurement,” he added.

The media reports, citing a power-point presentation to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence recently, had said the country's preparedness in terms of armour was 71 per cent, combat helicopters 17 per cent, mechanised infantry 62 per cent and artillery 52 per cent.

It had said the air defence systems preparedness was only 44 per cent, engineers 60 per cent, infantry 65 per cent, special forces 69 per cent and net centricity only 24 per cent.

The presentation, the report had said, projected that the existing gaps in its preparedness could be met only over the next 18 years by 2027.