Critically short of anti-tank missiles, army sounds alarm

January 28, 2018 09:06

The Indian Army has once again sounded the alarm about its critical operational deficiency in the field of anti-tank guided missiles, asking the government for the emergency induction of at least some of these "tank killers" till the indigenous man-portable systems being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation become a reality.

The army, after all, has an alarming shortage of around 68,000 ATGMs and 850 launchers of different types, which are crucial for the infantry to halt advancing enemy tanks in the plains as well as guard the "active" line of control with Pakistan.

Sources say the army is now even ready for the fast-track procurement of 2,500 shoulder-fired ATGMs and 96 launchers, with no transfer of technology, as an "interim measure" through a government-to-government contract. "It has been left to the government whether it should be the Israeli Spike ATGM or the FGM-148 Javelin ATGM from the US," said a source.

This comes in the backdrop of the government, late last year, cancelling the proposed Rs 3,200 crore deal with Israel for 8,356 medium-range Spike ATGMs, 321 launchers and 15 simulators, a procurement project first accorded "acceptance of necessity" by the defence ministry way back in June 2009.

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