Naravane: Modernisation of Army is well on course

New Delhi, May 30: The modernisation of the Indian Army is well on course, Army Chief Gen. M.M. Naravane has said, dismissing apprehensions that the need for devoting more resources to guard the Line of Actual Control in the face of the prolonged standoff with China in eastern Ladakh may starve the force of funds for buying new weapons and platforms.

Emphasising his point, Gen. Naravane said that 59 contracts worth `21,000 crore have been concluded since last fiscal while a number of other capital acquisition proposals are in the pipeline.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, he said the modernisation drive in the Army has been going on without facing any difficulty and that required resources are being provided by the government.

“The modernisation drive of Indian Army is well on course. Recently 15 contracts worth more than `16,000 crore have been concluded under normal schemes of procurement and 44 contracts worth `5,000 crore have been concluded in 2020-21 under emergency procurements,” he said.

“A number of capital acquisition proposals too are underway concurrently,” the Chief of Army Staff said.

He was replying to a question on whether the much-needed modernisation of the Army has been impacted due to the need for allocation of greater resources to keep a large number of troops for guarding the LAC in eastern Ladakh and elsewhere in the wake of the standoff since last one year.

“We are not facing any difficulty,” he said, referring to the modernisation drive.

In February, the government allocated `4.78 lakh crore for the defence budget for 2021-22. Out of the total allocation, `1,35,060 crore was set aside for capital expenditure that includes purchasing new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware.