Indian Army drafts new war doctrine

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New Delhi, March 5, IRNA -- Indian Army has drafted a new war doctrine 
and it would be finalised after receiving suggestions from all 
quarters, said the Chief of Indian Army Staff, N.C. Vij, at a seminar 
here. 
According to teh Hindu, a New Delhi-based English daily, former 
and serving Indian army officers took a critical look at the Army`s 
preparedness for meeting challenges and felt it wanting. 
Over the last decade and a half, while the professional levels of 
its officers and men have been sustained and even enhanced in many 
respects, the fighting potential of the force has decreased. 
The factors responsible for this included resistance to change in 
the Army brass, political leadership`s lack of knowledge of 
security-related issues, withholding or decreasing budgetary 
allocations, short command tenures, hesitation among senior officers 
to take risks and a status quo mentality among a large number of 
decision-makers. 
Recalling the two major structural changes in the size and 
organizational structure of the Army - post-1962 and in the mid-80s - 
the former Vice-Chief of the Army Staff, Vijay Oberoi, felt that the 
impact of these changes was lost as there was no matching change in 
the doctrine. 
"As a result the Army has generally remained static, both 
structurally and in doctrinal terms, except for incremental changes, 
to meet the challenges as they arose. What the Army has lacked is a 
futuristic vision and a firm resolve for change, as also the courage 
to adopt the innovative and shun the predictable," he noted at the 
seminar organized by the Center for Land Warfare Studies, a think- 
tank set up recently and supported by the Army. 
Lt. Gen. Oberoi heads the institution and its importance as a 
quasi-independent organization was underlined by the presence of the 
three Service chiefs at the inaugural. 
He felt the time is right to take advantage of the ongoing 
revolution in military affairs (RMA) and plan for radical and 
fundamental changes so that the Army does not just remain large in 
numbers but also carries the necessary punch. 
The RMA, manifested by high technology weapons, sensors, 
communications and IT, will increasingly affect all types of military 
operations. The Army should endeavor to make the battlefield more 
digitized, signaling the growing primacy of electromagnetic spectrum. 
The second area was promoting joint and combined operations. 
Former naval officer, P.S. Das, and the former Air Force official, 
Jasjit Singh, also stressed this aspect in different ways. Both 
wanted a deeper debate on synergy without getting into the turf 
loyalties. 
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Indian Army drafts new war doctrine
