Indian Army : Updates & Discussions

I dont think NAMICA has any anti infantry capability..purely tank destroyer.Cant be compared to BMPt or kurganets.

Correct, and that's a big problem. Infantry is getting more and more dangerous as time passes and we have very limited mobile anti-infantry capability on the field. One can imagine what will happen if Pak infantry in LATs get their hands on Chinese 4th and 5th generation ATGMs in 10 years or so with ranges of 5Km or more.

FRCV should eventually take care of this problem, but that's something like 2030-35 and beyond. There's nothing in the interim, including FICV.
 
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Army to now train jawans to become officers, junior leaders in the force

Army to now train jawans to become officers, junior leaders in the force | India News - Times of India

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An Israeli financial news publication on Sunday reported that the Indian Army had awarded a contract worth $127 million to an Israeli company for the supply of tactical radio systems.
Elbit Systems, a privately owned Israeli defence company, had announced the contract on its website on Sunday. However, it did not specify the customer, a practice common with other Israeli defense contractors also.
The Elbit press release stated, “It was awarded a $127 million contract to supply vehicular tactical radio systems to the army of a country in South Asia. The contract will be performed over a three-year period. The radios to be supplied will include several configurations for integration on board a range of armored fighting vehicles and tanks at the battalion and company levels.”
Globes, an Israeli financial publication, reported, “Elbit did not mention to which country the tactical radios will be sold but market sources say that it is to India.”
If confirmed, the development highlights the Indian Army's continued reliance on tactical radios from Israel. These tactical radios, called combat net radio (CNR) sets, can transmit both data and voice and are designed to operate in environments of heavy electronic jamming to provide army personnel with a comprehensive picture of the battle scenario.
In 2004, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Tadiran Communications, which subsequently merged with Elbit, had won an Indian Army order worth $113 million for radio equipment to be mounted on tanks and other platforms.
In July 2018, the Defence Acquisition Council cleared a 'repeat' order for 4,900 Tadiran radio sets for the T-72 and T-90 tanks of the Indian Army.

In addition to radio equipment, Elbit is also seeking to supply unmanned aerial vehicles to the Indian military.

In December 2018, Elbit, in partnership with the Adani Group, opened a “50,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility” in Hyderabad to manufacture UAVs. The facility is described as the first such factory outside of Israel meant for the manufacture of Elbit's Hermes 900 long-endurance UAV.

Source Is Indian Army buying Israeli firm's radios in $127 million deal?
 
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DRDO’s surveillance system to bolster Army’s defence system along the border


Dehradun: To bolster the Indian Army’s defense and surveillance systems along the border, the Dehradun-based Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), an arm of the Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO), has developed a state-of-the-art surveillance equipment —Video and Image Processing Enhancement and Recognition System (VIPERS). According to scientists at IRDE, VIPERS is an automated round-the-clock multi-sensor surveillance system capable of providing high-resolution imaging in any environment. It will also enable the army to get “clinical precision while firing”. “VIPERS is based on artificial intelligence and can recognize 20 different types of objects at a distance of up to 20 kilometer range. It is equipped with a convolutional neural network hardware chip which can capture photos at seven frames per second. Several chips can be teamed up to boost the performance of the automated surveillance in real time,” said JP Singh, a senior scientist at IRDE who is heading the project team. “VIPERS can work with day and night cameras, including Thermal Imagers, Active Laser, IR LED etc., to ensure flawless surveillance,” added Singh. The scientist further said that it took a few decades to shape up the system.The system has been developed after painstaking efforts of several years. My team is excited about the forthcoming field trials to be conducted by Indian Army next month which would test the entire range of features of the system and also help plan the next level of upgrade,” said Singh.

Source: DRDO’s surveillance system to bolster Army's defence system along the border | Dehradun News - Times of India
 
MHA MOVES TO COUNTER PAK MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN

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Taking a serious note of a report published in The Tribune, the Union Home Ministry has directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) to take effective steps to counter Pakistan’s psychological war through FM radio stations.

In a letter written to the Secretary, I&B ministry, on May 17, 2019, the department of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed it to set up FM radio broadcasting stations near the border to counter Pakistan’s vicious propaganda.

In the letter, the MHA has specifically quoted the report published in The Tribune regarding setting up of FM stations by the Pakistani authorities to intensify psychological warfare in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.

The Tribune had reported in its November 22, 2018, edition that Pakistan had set up at least 15 round-the-clock FM stations to hurl the choicest invectives at India.

The operation of radio stations by Pakistan has been documented in a post-doctoral research conducted by Rajesh Bhat, who is currently working in the policy division of the Directorate of All India Radio, New Delhi.

“An article captioned, ‘Pakistan’s psychological war on through 15 FM stations’, published in The Tribune on November 22, 2018, revealed that Pakistani FM channels had been detected in various areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab”, the letter mentioned, adding, “These channels while broadcasting news on Jammu and Kashmir reflected alleged atrocities committed by Indian security forces on Kashmiris and justified Bandh calls given by Hurriyat leaders besides condemning restrictions in Kashmir... However, the impact of these channels was found negligible in most parts of Punjab”.

Directions To I&B Ministry


  • Set up FM radio stations and repeater stations in the border areas affected by Pakistan propaganda
  • Encourage community FM radio stations
  • Selective jamming of frequencies used by FM stations across the border
  • Running parallel FM station with high-signal intensity along with formulation of specific programs
  • Take up issue of “cross-border pilferage” of FM radio transmission in bilateral talks, regional cooperation summits and International Telecommunication Union

Source: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu-kashmir/mha-moves-to-counter-pak-misinformation-campaign/780743.html
 
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Homegrown BEL system to ring death knell for rogue drones
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Rogue unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could find its nemesis in homegrown Drone Guard System (DGS) being developed by Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL).

The DGS was first unveiled during the DefExpo held in Chennai in 2018 and later during Aero India held in Bengaluru 2019.
Speaking to Onmanorama on Saturday, on the sidelines of the Annual BEL press conference here, Mahesh V, Director (Design and Development) said any intruding drones could be shot down with the help of DGS.
“Rogue drones coming towards any vital installations can be brought down with our system. We could also employ a soft-kill and bring the intruding drone to a specified place,” Mahesh said.
An electro-optic sensor, a communication system for interrogation jamming and a radar are part of the DGS, mainly developed to protect vital installations.
“We developed the DGS with our own resources and made two versions. A demonstration was shown to the Indian Army. The user wants some more additions and we are working on the same,” Mahesh said.
DGS is a portable unit with FMCW (frequency modulated continuous wave) radar and a communication jammer capable of taking on both uplink and downlink networks. It has an electro optic sensor onboard aiding the missions.
BEL says they are now working on GPS-spoofing for DGS, so as to ‘confuse’ the intruder drone and bring it to a particular area.
The Central Research Laboratories of BEL have been given enough finds to work on areas including artificial intelligence, robotics, data science and homeland security.

“We are offering the users a best system in the form of DGS that can detect, track and neutralise any drones invading into critical assets. The system can also be mounted on a vehicle,” Mahesh added.

Source: Homegrown BEL system to ring death knell for rogue drones
 
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India rejigs plans for conflict with Pakistan, China

Greater mobility and firepower are key to India’s war fighting capabilities against its traditional rivals

By Saikat Datta, June 29, 2019
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The Indian Army is rewriting its war plans for possible conflict with Pakistan and China. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

India is undertaking major military reforms to enhance its capability to fight possible wars with Pakistan and China as Prime Minister Narendra Modi settles into his second term.

The reforms are redrawing military concepts and formations and junking plans that have prevailed for more than 80 years in institutions that have been slow to reform. They are also moving forces up much closer to the front lines for quicker mobilization. Previously, this used to happen only when war was imminent.

Over the last four years, key military units that are part of India’s three Strike Corps – I Corps, II Corps and XXI Corps – have shifted and moved closer to the border with Pakistan and China. Meanwhile, India’s top military hierarchy is also examining the effect of these changes will have on the current rank structure and the morale of its officers.

India inherited its military structures from the colonial British, policies initially created to keep the natives in check. But the two world wars changed how the British Empire looked at its colonies. Between the two big wars, the British Indian Army expanded exponentially.

As historians have noted, if anyone other than the British and the Americans fought in every theater of the war, it was the Indians, who were part of the Allied troops on every continent. In 1947, after the British divided India into two countries, the army also split and immediately plunged into war with each other, with both sides led by British generals.

In the seven decades since independence, India has fought five wars, launched two expeditionary operations and built the third-largest standing army in the world. But the structures and methods of fighting a war have remained the same, with some incremental changes implemented periodically.

However, all that changed when India was surprised by Pakistani military intrusions in Kashmir and a sharp, short conflict, known as the Kargil war, was fought in the summer of 1999. This resulted in a realization that modern warfare needed new ideas.

On December 13, 2001, Pakistani terrorists stormed India’s Parliament. India reacted with fury and mobilized the army under Operation Parakram and sent them to the border and war seemed imminent. But 10 months later the Indian Army returned to its barracks, after international pressure and mediation drew promises from Pakistan to rope in terror attacks from its soil.

However, Indian military planners knew their age-old plans and formations for war had been rendered useless, and it was time to draw up new plans.

Fighting new wars

By May 2004, the Indian Army had come up with a new war plan. They called it the “Cold Start Doctrine.” However, the same colonial structures remained untouched and were expected to fight according to the new doctrine.

“We found that mobilizing our Strike Corps was taking inordinately long. Pakistan has a large component of Mujahid battalions that have to be mobilized,” said Lieutenant General DS Hooda, a former Northern Army commander. As a younger officer, Hooda worked on the plans to restructure the army after Operation Parakram.

Since the Mujahid battalions are basically a reserve force, it took time to mobilize them. India sought to exploit this gap for a decisive operation using its Cold Start Doctrine.

The Indian Army’s fighting strategy depended on two key formations, the Strike Corps and the Pivot Corps. While it had three Strike Corps targeting Pakistan, it was building one for China. The aim of the Strike Corps was to use all mechanized forces for a rapid thrust into Pakistan’s vulnerable areas and exploit its lack of depth.

The Pivot Corps were essentially defensive formations that can turn around and launch offensive operations once the strike formations established dominance. However, this became obsolete as the Pakistanis and Chinese also changed their strategies.

“Cold Start was a vague term. We knew that any military operation was unlikely to last for a long time due to international pressure,” said Lieutenant General KJ Singh, an armored corps officer who rose to head India’s Western Army Command.

“Therefore, we had to fall back on the concept of SNIPE – Short Notice Intense Proactive Escalatory operations. The fighting elements of our Strike Corps were too far behind the front lines, and they were too large to mobilize without being noticed. This needed to change.”

India is now moving towards Integrated Battle Groups, that are much smaller than the Corps but carry nearly as much firepower. It is taking the key elements of offensive operations from its Strike Corps, while also dipping into the Pivot Corps. This meant freeing up a lot of “captive” offensive capabilities and combining them for optimum use.

“We realized that Pivot Corps had significant reserves of armor and infantry. So we can look at eight to 10 independent battle groups in a situation where we only had one Strike Corps,” Hooda said.

In part, the strategy is drawn from a similar experiment carried out by the US military when it went to war with Iraq after 9/11 in 2001. It created the Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which was a combination of highly mobile infantry and armor that could carry out a range of operations across different theaters. They could mobilize and deploy quickly, but also carry enough firepower to punch above their weight.

“All over the world armies are changing. The Americans, the Russians and even the Chinese have done it,” Hooda explained.

Importantly, Pakistan began to shore up its doctrines to counter a “Cold Start” Indian offensive. It began to convert its Mujahid battalions to regular troops last year, while it also introduced the Nasr missile, a tactical ballistic nuclear warhead that could be used against mobile formations.

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There was tension on the India-China border in July 2018. Image: AFP

Tackling China

In regard to China, the traditional strategic thought in India for decades was that size would be the decisive factor. By 2012, India was all set to raise a Strike Corps for offensives against China.

“The idea was that we need a ratio of 9:1 superiority to tackle any adversary in the mountains. But the costs and the challenges of maintaining such a massive force with a chronic resource crunch made that impossible,” a senior serving military official told Asia Times.

“At that time when cabinet sanctions came for 17 Corps, framed as a Strike Corps against China, we planned for three army divisions (about 12,000 personnel). But the funds never came so we started the new formations with existing war reserves. But as the Northern Army commander I couldn’t spare any, because all my troops were engaged in active operations in Kashmir and on the borders,” Hooda said.

These practical problems and a lack of funds forced the army to drop two of the planned three divisions. Today, 17 Corps has only one division that is being converted into independent battle groups.

Unlike in the past, all major strike formations have been moved forward to their operational areas. This has greatly reduced the time needed to mobilize existing formations from a month to days. However, the size and orientation of the formations were unchanged until the latest exercise began.

“My recommendation was to do this in a three-year phase. Create test beds to exercise battle plans, review lessons learnt in the second year and then formally implement it in the third year,” said Hooda.

Many serving and retired generals have also raised doubts about a Corps commander managing too many independent battle groups at a time. “This needs to be addressed from a command and control perspective,” another serving senior general said.

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A mobile launch unit of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system India is buying from Russia. Photo: AFP/ Vitaliy Ankov / Sputnik

Gaps remain

In September 2016, Pakistani terrorists struck an Indian brigade headquarters in the Uri sector in Kashmir, which led to India retaliating and launching raids by Special Forces units.

“Those were synergized multiple cross-border raids. But they failed to deter Pakistan and terrorists again struck India in February 2019. Our air strikes on Balakot in Pakistan in February this year has helped create a new threshold below the nuclear threat,” General KJ Singh said.

“But we still need to work on strategies that will be decisive and will prove to be a deterrent.”

Finally, while China has subsumed the whole India border under one military command, India has four army commands and a separate airforce command dealing with the Chinese border.

“This is chaotic and frankly, leads to massive issues. In fact, we are not even sitting with the Indian Air Force in the same location,” said Hooda. “At best, India’s two army commands, Northern and Eastern, should cover the border with China, instead of the current four. The Air Force should move its Eastern Command and co-locate it with the army’s Eastern Command. Right now they are in different states and that does not help planning joint operations.”

Lieutenant General Singh said India’s decisive victory against Pakistan on 1971 brought peace until the Kargil war in 1999. “But Pakistan and the Chinese have changed their military. Today, the Chinese have shed their flab and built a mobile army equipped with modern weapons. This poses a significant challenge to Indian military planners,” he said.

While the Modi government has given the go-ahead to make these far-reaching changes, it also needs to work on cyber warfare and look at weapons that threaten its satellite assets in space.

https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/06/article/india-rejigs-plans-for-conflict-with-pakistan-china/
 
Army’s Three Rs Plan Gets Going

July 06, 2019; By: Nitin A. Gokhale
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Restructuring, resizing and reorganisation of the Indian Army, conceived and debated since 2016 (the DB Shekatkar Committee report, four different studies undertaken by Army HQ) is now getting into second gear with a couple of important approvals coming through in recent days.

While the reorganisation of the Army HQ has gained momentum last week and has been widely reported, important steps in testing the concept of Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) has kicked off on the western front and an important change in the ORBAT or Order of Battle of 17 Mountain Strike Corps has been initiated.

The Army ordered four different studies last November. They were: a) Reorganise the Army Headquarters, b) Right size the Army, c) Carry out a cadre review for officers and d) Review the term of engagement for personnel below officer rank.

The Army has been able to make substantial progress on the first segment with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) approving the plan to redeploy about 300 officers elsewhere and restructure different verticals in the Army HQ to increase efficiency. Conceived towards the tail end of the Modi government’s first tenure, the Restructuring of Army HQ was approved earlier this week by new Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. It will now be implemented over the next few months.

The concept of Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) finalised last year under the second study for restructuring, has moved forward with ‘’two testbeds’’ being carried out during the current summer months. IBGs created by borrowing units from 26 and 29 Divisions have been tested under the Yol-based 9 Corps. A similar exercise under the Ambala-based 2 Corps has also yielded interesting results, Army sources have told BharatShakti.in.

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Essentially, the proposal was to let the Corps Headquarters (the highest field formation in the Indian Army) to directly control operations through re-organised brigades re-designated as Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs). The IBGs can be as varied as Integrated Infantry Battle Groups (IIBGs), Integrated Armoured Battle Groups (IABGs) or Integrated Artillery Battle Groups (IArtyBGs). The Army currently has 14 Corps Headquarters.

Under the proposed change, all Division HQs (except those of the three Artillery Divisions)—identified as additional friction points in the chain of command—will be done away with. Each Integrated Battle Group will consist of four to six infantry/mech battalions or armoured/artillery battalions as required. But more importantly, each of these battle groups would be commanded by a Major General. There are detailed explanations and suggestions about how to merge and utilise Divisional Combat support, logistics and service units.

The underlying concept is to make the frontline formations agile and effective in making rapid thrusts into Pakistan during a hot war and capture crucial territory. This plan, also described as “Cold Start lite’’ improves upon the original Cold Start doctrine that the Indian Army came up with in the early 2000s. Cold-start, however, proved to be non-starter since the armour-heavy large formations just could not move rapidly or silently enough before Pakistan got alerted. So in 2018, the current army leaders came up with the concept of IBGs and their presence along the frontline for rapid deployment.

Meanwhile, an important change has occurred the way the 17 Mountain Strike Corps, primarily conceived for deployment along India’s northern border with China, is now taking shape. Originally planned as a three-division formation—as all Corps normally are—the Army leadership has now decided to let only two divisions (approximately 10,000 to 12000 troops) be integral part of the 17 Corps, headquartered at Panagarh in West Bengal.

Accordingly, only the newly raised 59 Mountain Division, co-located with the 17 Corps HQ at Panagarh, and the Dehradun-based 14 Division will be permanent part of the Mountain Strike Corps. Other formations like the Ranchi-based 23 Division and the yet-to-be-fully-raised 72 Division
at Pathankot, will now have dual tasking —to be part of western command as well as get assigned to 17 Corps— when needed.

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Interestingly, the 14 Division used to be called 14 RAPID or Re-organised Army Plains Infantry Division was part of the 2 Corps. The RAPIDS (more than half a dozen of them) were formed in the mid-Eighties-early Nineties period because they comprised of two infantry and one mechanized or armoured brigades which gave the division greater mobility.

Now, an armoured brigade located at Roorkee under 14 RAPID has swapped places with an infantry brigade at Kapurthala. So the erstwhile 14 RAPID Division has been converted into a pure infantry or mountain division placed under the 17 Corps. The plan is to deploy the tweaked 14 Division in the Central Sector of the India-China border in Uttarakhand, which so far had a bare minimum presence of the Army through a sole independent brigade headquartered at Joshimath.

The 17 Corps, primarily meant as an offensive formation against China unlike the other formations deployed on the northern frontiers, is planning to test its efficacy and effectiveness by undertaking a war game in the Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh in the winter of 2019. The Tezpur-based 4 Corps which has three of its divisions earmarked for defence of Western Arunachal Pradesh will join in in the exercise.

According to MoD sources, the Army’s plan to bring the directorates of military intelligence (MI) and Military Operations (MO) under a newly created post of Deputy Chief (Strategy) now stands approved. So far, the Vice Chief of Army Staff used to oversee these directorates. Apart from MO and MI Directorates, the new deputy Chief will also have a three-star ranked officer in-charge of information warfare reporting to him. Among the existing two deputy chiefs, the one looking after capital procurements and modernisation will get wider responsibilities. The Master General of Ordinance (MGO) Branch, which handles all recurring procurements for the Army worth over 15,000 crore annually, will now report to this deputy chief who was earlier called DCOAS (Planning and Systems) but will now be re-designated as Deputy Chief (Capability development). This moves synergises the capital (new acquisitions) and revenue (recurring) procurements at the apex level.

Meanwhile the directorates of military training (DGMT) and Rashtriya Rifles (DGRR) will move out of the capital. While DGMT will be merged with the Army Training Command (ARTRAC), currently located at Shimla but likely to be shifted to Meerut soon, the DGRR will be co-located with the Northern Command HQ at Udhampur. The DGRR will now be headed by a two star (Maj General Rank) officer.
 
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In Army Restructuring, Tweaks In Plans Against China

By Nitin A. Gokhale, New Delhi 6 July 2019
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The Indian Army, battling depleting budget and rising security challenges in the region, has embarked on a restructuring-cum-transformation plan to make the force future combat-ready.

While the re-organisation of the Army HQ has gained momentum since last week and has been widely reported, important steps in restructuring the combat forces and tweaking the Order of Battle (ORBAT) of important formations have gone largely unnoticed.

For instance, an important change has occurred the way the 17 Mountain Strike Corps, primarily conceived for deployment along India’s northern border with China, is now taking shape. Originally planned as a three-division formation—as all Corps normally are—the Army leadership has now decided that only two divisions (approximately 10,000 to 12000 troops) would be integral to 17 Corps, headquartered at Panagarh in West Bengal.

Accordingly, only the newly raised 59 Mountain Division, co-located with the 17 Corps HQ at Panagarh, and the Dehradun-based 14 Division will be permanent part of the Mountain Strike Corps. Other formations like the Ranchi-based 23 Division and the yet-to-be-fully-raised 72 Division at Pathankot, will now have dual tasking — to be part of western command as well as get assigned to 17 Corps — when needed.

Interestingly, the 14 Division used to be called 14 RAPID (Re-organised Army Plains Infantry Division) and was part of 2 Corps. The RAPIDS (more than half a dozen of them) were formed in the mid-1980s-early 1990 because they comprised two infantry and one mechanised or armoured brigade which gave the division greater mobility.

Now, an armoured brigade located at Roorkee under 14 RAPID has swapped places with an infantry brigade at Kapurthala. So the erstwhile 14 RAPID Division has been converted into a pure infantry or mountain division placed under the 17 Corps. The plan is to deploy the tweaked 14 Division in the Central Sector of the India-China border in Uttarakhand, which so far had a bare minimum presence of the Army through a sole independent brigade headquartered at Joshimath.

The 17 Corps, primarily meant as an offensive formation against China unlike the other formations deployed on the northern frontiers, is planning to test its effectiveness by undertaking a war game in the Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh in the winter of 2019. The Tezpur-based 4 Corps which has three of its divisions earmarked for the defence of western Arunachal Pradesh, will join in the exercise.

Meanwhile, on the western front, under a plan finalised last year, the concept of Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) has moved forward with “two test beds” being carried out during the current summer months. IBGs created by borrowing units from 26 and 29 Divisions have been tested under the Yol-based 9 Corps. A similar exercise under the Ambala-based 2 Corps has also yielded interesting results, Army sources said.

Essentially, the proposal was to let the Corps Headquarters (the highest field formation in the Indian Army) to directly control operations through re-organised brigades re-designated as Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs). The IBGs can be as varied as Integrated Infantry Battle Groups (IIBGs), Integrated Armoured Battle Groups (IABGs) or Integrated Artillery Battle Groups (IArtyBGs). The Army currently has 14 Corps Headquarters.

Under the proposed change, all Division HQs (except those of the three Artillery Divisions)—identified as additional friction points in the chain of command—will be done away with. Each Integrated Battle Group will consist of four to six infantry/mech battalions or armoured/artillery regiments as required. But more importantly, each of these battle groups would be commanded by a Major General. There are detailed explanations and suggestions about how to merge and utilise Divisional Combat support, logistics and service units.

The underlying concept is to make the frontline formations agile and effective in making rapid thrusts into Pakistan during a hot war and capture crucial territory. This plan, also described as “Çold Start lite” improves upon the original Cold Start doctrine that the Indian Army came up with in the early 2000s. Cold-start however proved to be non-starter since the armour-heavy large formations just could not move rapidly or silently enough before Pakistan got alerted. So in 2018, the current army leaders came up with the concept of IBGs and their presence along the frontline for rapid deployment.

The creation of IBGs was among four studies that the Army ordered in November 2018. They were: a) Reorganise the Army Headquarters, b) Right size the Army, c) Carry out a cadre review for officers and d) Review the term of engagement for personnel below officer rank.

Apart from creating test beds for the IBGs, the Army has been able to make substantial progress on the first segment with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) approving the plan to redeploy about 300 officers elsewhere and restructure different verticals in the Army HQ to increase efficiency. Conceived towards the tail end of the Modi government’s first tenure, the Restructuring of Army HQ was approved earlier this week by new Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. It will now be implemented over the next few months.

Under the plan, the directorates of military intelligence (MI) and Military Operations (MO) will now be brought under a newly created post of Deputy Chief (Strategy). Apart from MO and MI Directorates, the new deputy chief will also have a three-star ranked officer in-charge of information warfare reporting to him. Among the existing two deputy chiefs, the one looking after capital procurement and modernisation will get wider responsibilities. The Master General of Ordnance (MGO) Branch, which handles all recurring procurement for the Army worth over 15,000 crore annually, will now report to this deputy chief who was earlier called DCOAS (Planning and Systems) but will now be re-designated as Deputy Chief (Capability development). This move synergises the capital (new acquisitions) and revenue (recurring) procurement at the apex level.

In Army Restructuring, Tweaks In Plans Against China - Sniwire News
 
Indian Army to buy drones to monitor Pakistan, China borders

Published July 13, 2019 | By admin SOURCE: LIVE MINT

India is planning a large-scale purchase of drones for its 1.2 million-strong army to boost surveillance capability along its volatile borders with neighboring Pakistan and China. The drones would enable units on the border to carry out a 24-hour watch against threats, Indian Army chief Bipin Rawat said in New Delhi on Saturday. He didn’t provide details.

The government plans to spend $250 billion over 10 years until 2025 on military modernization to meet challenges from Pakistan and China. India has fought three major wars with Pakistan in the last seven decades and a small-scale battle at Kargil in 1999.

The Indian Army, which currently operates more than 150 Israeli spy drones, is pursuing a tender initiated in late 2017 for the purchase of 600 unmanned aerial vehicles. India is also seeking to buy US-made armed drones in a separate procurement programme.

Indian Army to buy drones to monitor Pakistan, China borders – Indian Defence Research Wing