NEW DELHI — India is facing a severe shortage of ammunition, with 40 percent of the types of ammo in the armed forces’ inventory able to only last fewer than 10 days, according to a report by India’s autonomous audit agency, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Military officials here are saying in private that defense forces are concerned about the ammunition shortage because of the threat from China and Pakistan.
“War is best avoided till we are able to make up our deficiencies in which ammunition seems to be a major concern; till then we need to rely on diplomacy to ward off even a medium-intensity conflict,” said Rahul Bhonsle, a defense analyst and retired Indian Army brigadier.
According to the 176-page report, known as “Report No. 15 of 2017 (Defence Services),” the “availability of 55 per cent types of ammunitions was below MARL i.e. minimum inescapable requirement to be maintained for operational preparedness and 40 per cent types of ammunitions were in critical level having stock of less than 10 days.”
“Availability of high calibre ammunitions relating to AFVs (Tanks) and Artillery are in more alarming state. Moreover, in the absence of fuze, 83 per cent of these high calibre ammunitions presently held with Army were not in a state to be used in operation,” the report continued.
Bhupinder Yadav, a defense analyst and retired Indian Army major general, places blame on the Ministry of Defence, saying it “is solely responsible for the low level of inventory for the critical ammunition because despite serious concerns in [a] previous report on ammunition management in [the] Army in 2015,” Parliament has not reported tangible action by the MoD.
On the ammunition shortage, Yadav said: “83 percent of the high-caliber artillery ammunition held with the Army cannot be used in an operation due to non-availability of fuze[s].”
Most of the ammunition and fuzes are made by the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board, or OFB.
“There is a need for partnership with [an] overseas original equipment manufacturer who has the design, as tweaking the design by [anyone] other than [an] OEM has not been satisfactory,” Yadav added.
According to an Indian Army official, there is a requirement of more than 100,000 pieces of various fuze types for artillery. “Bi-modular fuzes are produced by OFB, but these aren’t effective for longer ranges,” the service official added.
An MoD official explained that the OFB has a limited capacity and is unable to produce the quantities required.
“Indian MoD has been resorting to imports of ammunition and early this year even floated a request for proposal seeking participation by private sector companies in tie up with overseas OEMs to produce variety of ammunition. However, all this is in the initial stages of procurement,” the MoD official said.
Another MoD official said the process involving the participation of private sector companies in ammunition production has hit a roadblock because state-owned companies also want to participate in the bid, which was earlier reserved for private companies.
”I do not think MoD is equipped to handle maintaining operational readiness of a 1.25 million[-strong] Army with varied types of requirement of weapons, equipment and munitions,” Bhonsle said. ”The service’s support is also weak, while indigenous production agencies are not able to cope ... due to inherent deficits; this is a systemic challenge.”
Vivek Raghuvanshi is the India correspondent for Defense News.
