Indian Army
|
|
The Indian Army is the army of the Republic of India.
It is headed by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), an officer of the rank of General. Its ranking system is modelled on the British model. The highest rank in the Indian Army is Field Marshal, who is only appointed by the Prime Minister in exceptional circumstances. The doctrine of the Indian Army is based on holding formations and strike formations. In the case of an attack, the holding formations would contain the enemy and then the strike formations would counterattack and destroy enemy forces. In the case of an Indian attack, the holding formations would pin enemy forces down whilst the strike formations attack at a point of Indian choosing. The Indian Army is large enough that several entire corps are devoted to the striking role, making them one of the most powerful non-NATO armies.
The Indian Army is a well-trained military service, employing almost 980,000 personnel. It is a completely voluntary service, the military draft never having been imposed in India. The army has a rich combat experience in diverse terrains including deserts, Himalayan mountains, tropical jungles, plains, swamps and islands.
The Indian Army also has a distinguished history of serving in United Nations peacekeeping operations.
| Contents |
History
- See the British Indian Army for the pre-independence Indian Army.
Upon independence in 1947, the British Indian Army was split, with most units going to India, and the rest going to Pakistan. Some Gurkha units were also retained in the British Army. Immediately after independence, tensions between India and Pakistan began to rise quickly, and the first of three full-scale wars between the two nations broke out over the princely state of Kashmir. Former comrades fought each other and tensions between India and Pakistan has never entirely been eliminated ever since.
Pakistan sent tribal invaders to capture Kashmir using its newly formed army. Kashmir's then Mahraja (Ruler) informally acceded Kashmir to India. The Indian Army immediately airlifted troops to Kashmir and drove out the invaders, attacking the Pakistani Army. However, before India could recover parts of Kashmir, the United Nations intervened, and Pakistan agreed to withdraw its army and allow a plebiscite to determine Kashmir's future. But that never happenned and the LoC remained a quazi official border.
An uneasy peace returned by the end of 1948, with Indian and Pakistani soldiers facing each other directly on the Line of Control dividing Indian from Pakistani Kashmir. Many Indians expected matters with Pakistan to come to a head again, and so they did. However, before that happened, trouble befell India from an unexpected direction.
In 1962, the People's Republic of China attacked Indian troops deployed far forward along their shared border. Though the Indian military was superior to that of the Chinese in certain fields, the Indians were forced back due to their untenable positions and long supply lines. Chinese forces drove the Indians from Aksai Chin (which India claims as part of the Ladakh region of Kashmir as well as the Northeast Frontier Province (now known as Arunachal Pradesh). Having achieved their strategic goal, securing a highway through Aksai Chin, the Chinese stopped their advance and agreed to a cease fire and a withdrawl of its troops from the eastern sectort. Neither side, however, has abandoned its territorial claims and a final demarcation of the Indo-Chinese border has yet to take place. The dividing line between the Indian and Chinese forces has been christened the Line of Actual Control.
The long-awaited second confrontation with Pakistan happened in 1965. Again, the Indian Army battled the Pakistani Army by entering Punjab. India inflicted heavy casualties on Pakistan through heavy tank battles, but retained heavy casualties the same.
In 1971, rebellion broke out in East Pakistan, and India was forced to intervene as a number of Bangladeshi refugees fled to India. War again came, but this time decisive change was affected. East Pakistan broke away with Indian intervention and became the independent nation of Bangladesh. This was of great help to India, since it no longer had to worry about a two-front war and could concentrate its combat firepower against what had been West Pakistan and the PRC. Under the command of Lt. General JS Arora ,Indian army achieved a decisive victory over Pakistan in 1971 taking over 90,000 prisoners of war in Bangladesh liberation war.
After 1971, tensions between India and Pakistan simmered, periodically threatening to break out into fullscale war, most notably in 1999 and 2002 in recent years. The 1998 tests of Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons are seen by many commentators as a restraining influence on both sides. Now that each can destroy the other in a war, according to the theory of deterrence, they are less likely to let tensions escalate.
Units
Area Commands
The Indian Army has 5 tactical area commands
- XIV Corps - Artillery, 3rd Infantry and 8th Mountain Divisions
- XV Corps - Artillery, 19th Infantry, 28th and 57th Mountain Divisions
- XVI Corps - 2nd, 3rd, 16th Armor, Artillery, 10th, 25th, 26th, 29th and 39th Infantry Divisions
- Western Command headquartered at Chandimandir in Chandigarh
- 30th Artillery Division
- II Corps - 14th Armor, Artillery, Air Defence, Engineer, Helicopter Sqdrn, 1st Armored, 14th Rapid and 22nd Infantry Divisions
- X Corps - 6th Armored, Artillery, 16th Infantry, 18th and 24th Rapid Divisions
- XI Corps - 23rd Armored, 55th Mech, Artillery, 7th, 9th and 15th Infantry Divisions
- Central Command headquartered at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh
- I Corps - 23rd Artillery, Air Defence, Engineer, 4th Infantry, 6th Mountain and 31st Armored Divisions
- Eastern Command headquartered at Kolkata
- III Corps - Artillery, 23rd Infantry and 57th Mountain Divisions
- IV Corps - Artillery, 2nd, 5th and 21st Mountain Divisions
- XXXIII Corps - Artillery, 17th, 20th and 27th Mountain Divisions
- Southern Command headquartered at Pune in Maharashtra
- 50th Parachute
- 333rd Missile Group
- XII Corps - 4th Armored, 340th Mech, Artillery, 11th and 12th Infantry Divisions
- XXI Corps - Artillery, Air Defence, Engineer, Heli Sqn, 33rd Armored, 36th Rapid and 54th Infantry Divisions
Regiments
Infantry
- Brigade of the Guards
- The Parachute Regiment
- Mechanised Infantry Regiment
- Punjab Regiment
- Madras Regiment
- The Grenadiers
- Maratha Light Infantry
- Rajputana Rifles
- Rajput Regiment
- Jat Regiment
- Sikh Regiment
- Sikh Light Infantry
- Dogra Regiment
- Garhwal Rifles
- Kumaon Regiment
- Assam Regiment
- Bihar Regiment
- Mahar Regiment
- Jammu & Kashmir Rifles
- Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry
- Naga Regiment
- 1st Gorkha Rifles (1st King George V's Own Gurkha Rifles)
- 3rd Gorkha Rifles (3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles)
- 4th Gorkha Rifles (4th Prince of Wales's Own Gurkha Rifles)
- 5th Gorkha Rifles (5th Royal Gurkha Rifles {Frontier Force})
- 8th Gorkha Rifles
- 9th Gorkha Rifles
- 11th Gorkha Rifles
- Ladakh Scouts
Equipment
Most of the army equipment is imported, but efforts are on to manufacture indigenous equipment.
Light Weapons
- FN 35 and Glock 17 9 mm pistols
- Heckler und Koch MP5 replacing the Carbine 1A 9 mm sub-machine guns
- INSAS 5.56 mm assault rifles replacing the FN FAL, 1A1, 1C, AKM and V.58 7.62 mm assault rifles
- INSAS 5.56 mm light machine guns replacing the 7.62 mm FN MAG, Bren L4 and the .50 cal Browning M2HB machine guns
- Dragunov, Mauser SP66 and Heckler und Koch MSG-90 7.62 mm sniper rifles
- AGS-17 Plamya 30 mm automatic grenade launcher
- M40 RCL 106 mm and Carl Gustav 84 mm recoiless rifles
- Igla-19K310 / SA-16 Gimlet replacing the Strela-2M /SA-7b Grail - portable SAM
Combat vehicles
- T-90S Bhishma - main battle tanks (310+) over 1000 T-90S to be manufactured in India
- Arjun Mk1 - main battle tanks (125) - the Arjun might be converted into a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer by fitting the South African T6 turret which has the G5 howitzer fitted.
- Upgraded T-72M1 Ajeya - main battle tanks (1,900+)
- Vijayanta (1,200) and T-55 (700) main battle tanks being phased out
- PT-76 (amphibious) and AMX-13 light tanks
- Ferret armoured cars
- BRDM-2 amphibious reconnaissance vehicles
- BMP-1 (700) and BMP-2 (900+)Sarath - mechanised infantry combat vehicles relegated the OT-62/64 to mortar carriers.
Artillery
- Agni medium-range ballistic missles that can attack China and Pakistan and beyond.
- SS-150/Prithvi-1 and SS-250/Prithvi-III - short-range ballistic missiles
- Smerch 9K58 - 300 mm multiple rocket launch system
- Pinaka - 214 mm multiple rocket launch system replacing the 122 mm BM-21
- Abbot (105 mm) and M-46 Catapult (130 mm) to be replaced by 4000 new 155 mm self-propelled howitzers. On the short list is the Denel LIW T6 turreted Arjun and the Celsius (Bofors) FH-77AD
- Bofors FH-77B, upgraded Soltam M-46 155 mm towed howitzers
- Soltam M-46 130 mm field guns replacing the 105 mm IFG Mk1/2/3
- D-30 122 mm towed howitzers
- Tunguska M1 - low level air defense system
- Upgraded ZSU-23-4M Shilka self-propelled air defence guns (48)
- Upgraded Bofors L40/70 40 mm AA guns replacing the L40/60
- ZSU-23-2 twin 23 mm AA guns
- Due to delays in the Akash missile program the ZRK-SD Kvadrat / SA-6a Gainful air defence systems is being upgraded (100)
- Due to delays in the Trshul missile program the OSA-AKM / SA-8b Gecko air defence systems is being upgraded (50)
- S-300V / SA-10 Grumble
- Strela-10M3 / SA-13 Gopher - short-range, low altitude SAM
Non-combat vehicles
- Bridge Layer Tank using a T-72 chassis and Kartik Armoured Bridgelayer on a Vijayanta chassis - armoured vehicle-launched bridges
- Multi-Hop and Extended Span Assault Bridges on T-72 chassis
- Sarvatra - 8x8 truck-mounted briging system
- VT-72B ARV (200+) and WZT-3 ARV (124, 228 to be delivered by 2007) - armoured recovery vehicle replacing the Vijayanta ARV
- BMP-2 Armoured Amphibious Dozer and Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicle (ERV)
- Casspir - mine protected vehicles (165)
- Tata LPTA 1621 TC - 6x6 truck
- Mahindra - light multi-role 4x4
- Rampar - amphibious 4x4
Aircraft
- Dornier Do 228-101 - light transport aircraft
- HAL Dhruv multi-role helicopter replacing the HAL Chetak / Allouette II, Cheetah / SA 315B Lama and Lancer
See also
External links
- Official web site (http://indianarmy.nic.in/)
- Bharat Rakshak Army site (http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/)
- GlobalSecurity (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/india/index.html)