Army vice-chief gets financial powers to maintain combat-readiness for 'short wars'

NEW DELHI: After first authorizing all the three Services to go in for emergency procurements of ammunition and spares after the Uri terror attack in September last year, the government has now extended “full financial powers” to the Army vice-chief for now to maintain adequate stockpiles and combat readiness for “short and intense wars”.This comes at a time when the 1.3-million Army is on a high operational alert all along the Line of Actual Control with China due to the ongoing troop face-off near the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction, while the Line of Control with Pakistan also remains volatile with daily cross-border firing exchanges and casualties on both sides.After the Uri attack, the armed forces had inked a flurry of emergency deals worth over Rs 20,000 crore -- primarily with Russia, Israel and France -- to ensure their warships and fighters, tanks and artillery could undertake at least 10 days of "intense fighting" without worrying about ammunition and other reserves, as it was then reported by TOI.The government had set up empowered procurement committees under the Army, Navy and IAF vice-chiefs with emergency revenue financial powers to "make up deficiencies and operational voids" by inking deals over a three-month period at a time.The Army, on its part, had identified 46 different types of ammunition, 22 armaments, half a dozen mines as well as spares for 10 weapon systems ranging from tanks to artillery guns as “critical requirements”, which together would amount to roughly Rs 35,000-40,000 crore.The force has already inked 19 contracts worth Rs 12,000 crore, which includes 11 kinds of ammunition, since then. Of them, 10 contracts are with Russian companies for supply of engines and 125mm APFSDS (armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot) ammunition for its T-90S and T-72 tanks to Konkurs anti-tank guided missiles and Smerch rockets.“Now, the government has issued a notification empowering the Army vice-chief to continue with the emergency revenue procurements, as and when required, to maintain optimal stockpiles without taking clearances from the defence acquisitions council,” said a source.The armed forces are quite happy with these fast-track procedures to ensure "serviceability and availability" of existing weapon systems and platforms, even though the 2017-18 Budget did not allocate much for new military modernization projects, with the bulk of the Rs 86,488 crore capital outlay earmarked for "committed liabilities".As earlier reported by TOI, after the Uri attack, the IAF has also concluded 43 contracts worth over Rs 9,200 crore for ammunition and spares for its fighters like Sukhoi-30MKIs, Mirage-2000s and MiG-29s, transport aircraft like IL-76s, mid-air refuellers like IL-78s and the Phalcon AWACS (airborne warning and control systems).The Army, incidentally, did not even hold one-third of its authorized war wastage reserves (WWR) for 40 days of intense fighting. As per operational norms, the WWR should be sufficient for 30 days of "intense" and 30 days of "normal" fighting. But the Army simply did not have such reserves.The CAG had also taken note of this alarming state of affairs in a report tabled in Parliament.