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"My major concern is that night blindness
of the army is removed so we are able to fight
in the night as in the day," Kapoor said
last month.
Earlier when his attention was brought to the
fact that the Indian Army's tanks have a night
vision capability of 20 percent, Pakistan's have
80 percent while China has 100 percent, the general
only replied: "You are right."
"Projects are already in the pipeline to
ensure that we have the night vision capability
that our adversaries have. It may take three-four
years," he added.
The lack of night vision capability of the Indian
Army has affected its fighting capability during
the night. The deficiency has been persistent
even before and after the Kargil conflict.
On a query about the obsolete artillery of the
Indian Army, the army chief said that successive
bans have delayed acquisition of new guns for
long.
"Artillery is a cause for concern. We need
to have better guns. Trials for towed guns are
underway. Because of bans the process got delayed.
We are now acquiring (ultra light) guns through
FMS (Foreign Military Sales) route (from the US)."
The artillery modernisation plan of the Indian
Army, which has not bought a single gun for the
last 23 years, was derailed when the defence ministry
banned dealings – pending inquiry –
with seven armament firms including a Singapore
artillery major on corruption charges.
While the government gave a go ahead to the trials
of towed artillery guns, it has opted for a direct
sales route in case of ultra light howitzers,
in which the Singapore Kinetics was the single
vendor. Ultra light guns are required by the Indian
Army to position in the mountainous terrain bordering
China. The winner is the BAE Systems, which had
opted not to respond to the tender.
New Delhi has issued a Letter of Request (LoR)
to Washington for 145 BAE ultralight guns, made
in the USA.
"I would be happy to get the guns whichever
way I can. I do not mind if it comes through Foreign
Military Sales. The Defence Acquisition Committee
cleared it and we are ready to go for it,"
Gen Kapoor said.
(IANS)
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