Govt authorises Indian Army to make emergency purchases for a short and intense war...[India]

Business Today ^ | July 13, 2017

[TigerLikesRooster]

Govt authorises Indian Army to make emergency purchases for a short and intense war amid border tensions with China

Amid the ongoing face-off between India and China on the border of north-eastern state Sikkim, the government has passed an executive order authorizing Indian Army to make emergency purchases of arms and ammunition to be able to fight if required 'short intense war'.

The decision has come at a time when two neighbouring countries -India and China- are locked-in a bitter border stand-off which also involves Bhutan as a third country.

India Today reported that an internal audit of the Indian Army had revealed critical shortfall of artillery ammunition, tanks shells, fuses and spares for weapons platforms. The audit was conducted after Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists attacked Uri brigade headquarters, killing 19 soldiers.

In the audit report, the army identified 46 kinds of ammunition, spares for 10 weapons platforms like infantry combat vehicles and half-a-dozen mines of various kinds as critical for war fighting.

After this order, the Army can spend as much as it feels required on weapons that are needed to be added in military arsenal. "Unlike previous process, there is no per-determined cap on the amount that can be spent. Rather, the limit to spending has been tied to the minimum stores, ammunition that must be in the reserve of the army at given time. This is big shift," a senior Ministry of Defence officer told India Today.

Internal audit report is not the only basis, it appears, for making this decision. Earlier in 2015, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India made somewhat similar observation about the shortage of arms and ammunition.

The CAG's findings, in a report, were damning which said: "While availability of authorised stock against War Wastage Reserve to meet the expected duration of operation formed the basic criteria for ensuring the operational readiness of the Army, we found during the review that against the WWR of 40 (I) days, the availability of ammunition was only in 10 per cent of the total types of ammunition held (March 2013)."

The current conflict started when People's Liberation Army construction party entered the Doklam area and attempted to construct a road. India opposed the attempted construction as it would have allowed Chinese Army to get closer to Indian defence interests and also move forward the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[Nicholas Sharpe]

Not good news

[notdownwidems]

Looks like it’s on, Chinamen!

[Malcolm Reynolds]

A decent overview of their previous conflict.

Indian/Sino Conflict 1962

[Psalm 73]

Military logistics - easier said than done.
Odd as it may seem, the US has been the gold-standard in military logistics ever since the Civil War.
Nobody stores and moves stuff like we do.

[TigerLikesRooster]

I am in full agreement.

[ameribbean expat]

provisioning for a “short intense war”...sounds like the “home for Christmas” pledges in Europe, August 1914.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Sikkim standoff: China carries out military drill with tanks in Tibet

The drill, which involved firing live ammunition and testing new equipment, was carried out to evaluate the battle-readiness of PLA troops at altitudes of 15000 feet and above.

Updated: Jul 06, 2017 22:43 IST



Tanks from a combined brigade of the PLA during an exercise in the Tibet Autonomous Region. (Courtesy: China Military Online)

The Chinese Army has carried out a military exercise on the Tibet plateau, deploying tanks and conducting live firing at a height of 5,100 metres for the first time, amid a standoff with Indian forces near Nathu La in the Sikkim sector that has taken bilateral ties to a new low.

The drill, which also involved the testing of new equipment, was conducted to evaluate the battle-readiness of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops at altitudes of 15,000 feet and above, official Xinhua news agency reported.

The exercise assessed “battlefield environment analysis, combat operations, synergies that need to be developed during battle”, and also featured live fire shooting training and the testing of integration of military operations, the report in Chinese said.



A military truck convey during an exercise in the Tibet Autonomous Region. (Courtesy: China Military Online)
The report added that the hierarchy of the PLA, the world’s largest armed forces, wanted to test how the personnel and equipment fared in freezing altitudes and “complex weather patterns”.


Complex battle situations were simulated and troops were made to react to changing on-ground situations rapidly.

Last week, the Chinese military said it had conducted trials of a lightweight battle tank in Tibet near the Indian border. “The 35-tonne tank has carried out trials in the plains of Tibet,” PLA spokesman Col Wu Qian had said.

[moovova]

The only short & intense war India and China will have will be nuclear. Anything else will make Afghanistan look like a day at the beach.

With a third of the world’s entire population at war with each other...we’ll all suffer

[TigerLikesRooster]

If that is what Chinese want, it is up to them to stop it.

[libh8er]

China will understand that encroaching into India is not the same as taking over the South China Sea.

[ctdonath2]

Both countries may want to significantly reduce their surplus populations, and war is an effective way of doing so.

[Bigg Red]

Sadly, yes.

Not good. Especially when we know it’s Uncle Sugar who will get stuck with the clean-up, as always.

Prayers up.

[JimRed]

The MSM is so busy tag-teaming the Trump administration that this will go unreported or underreported for the most part. Two nuclear armed nations at loggerheads should be front page or lead item news.

[JimRed]

Both countries may want to significantly reduce their surplus populations, and war is an effective way of doing so.

Brutal, but effective. But if other nations start taking sides, the consequences may be unthinkable.