Chandigarh, July 25
Three years after the Army’s parachute battalions were reorganised into Special Forces battalions, they remain without the necessary weapons and equipment.
The reorganisation of five battalions was completed in 2004 and these were provided with the full complement of manpower, yet the necessary weapons were not made available, the Comptroller and Auditor-General, in its latest report, has observed.
Army Headquarters had admitted in December 2006 to the deficiency and had stated that action was on hand to provide weapons and equipment to the units as per authorisation, the report added.
In accordance with executive instructions issued by Army Headquarters in 2003, the Special Forces (SF) battalions were to be reorganised into a four-team configuration from the existing three-team configuration. Some additional manpower was made available for the purpose.
The Army is in the process of increasing the number SF battalions to 10 and two years ago the government had sanctioned a Rs 700-crore plan to modernise these forces. A report tabled last year by Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence had stated that 40 items of various kinds used by the SF units had been identified for modernisation.
The Army is currently stated to have seven SF battalions. The recently released Doctrine of the Indian Army lays particular emphasis on the employment of special forces as force multipliers for specialised tasks behind enemy lines and to combat insurgencies, including trans-border seek and destroy missions in a low intensity conflict environment.
According to reports, all-terrain multi-purpose vehicles, underwater rifles, special sniper rifles, GPS navigation systems, enhanced anti-armour capabilities, digital cameras, remote detonating devices, secure communications equipment, laser sights and night vision goggles, radio transponder beacons for guiding aircraft and ballistic clothing are some of the items on the SF modernisation list.
Earlier this year, the Army received about 3,000 Tavor 21 assault rifles and about 150 Galil sniper rifles for SF units from Israel. It is also seeking 5.56 mm light carbines and specialised deep water diving equipment.
The Army Aviation Corps is also raising a dedicated helicopter squadron to cater to the operational needs of the special forces.
