*New Delhi:* Indian Army had only 10 days ammunition for intense waragainst Pakistan, Steps to enhance reserves by 20 days war.
The Army has bought ammunition worth over Rs 30,000 crore over the lastthree years to slowly fill a critical firepower shortage that washighlighted in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’sUri sector in 2016, ThePrint has learnt.
Two sources in the Army said the force has signed 39 contracts to procureammunition for the guns and tanks in its inventory since the Uri attack andthe subsequent surgical strikes.
Some of the big-ticket purchases include the Excalibur precision-guidedshells for all its 150 mm guns, the Spike anti-tank missiles and fuses, thesources said.
There are more supplies in the pipeline under 24 other contracts, including19 with foreign companies, according to reportslink.
In an interviewlink to *India Today *on 28 January, Army chief General M.M. Naravane said thepast shortages have been met, and the force’s ammunition reserves are fulland stock levels high.
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior Army officer said that with the ongoing andother planned acquisitions, the Army is working towards reaching 40 (I)levels — needed to fight 40 days of “intense” war.
“However, the procurement will also have to be spread over a period of timeso that the ammunition could be utilised,” said the officer who didn’t wishto be named.
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While the Army’s operational doctrine states it should maintain firepowerto sustain 40 “days of intense war”, it was scaled down to 20 days ofintense war after the 1999 Kargil conflict.
However, under former Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat’s tenure, the 20-dayrequirement was scaled down to 10 days of intense warfare, following aninternal assessment.
In September 2019, Rawat had told ThePrintlink,“Myfocus was to build more reserves. We had an internal discussion and decidedto focus on 10 I (10 days of intense war) along the western border. If wecan’t win a war with Pakistan in 10 days, there is no point of a war.”
Just after the Uri attack, the Army realised that its ammunition stock atthe time would not have lasted even 10 days. The shortage was adverselyaffecting the training of troops even as the Army was planning retaliation.
In 2017, a CAG report had highlighted that the stock of 61 types ofammunition — of the 152 types of ammunition deemed “critical” by the Army —is available for just 10 days of intense war.
