India's dependence on the import of ammunition has long been considered a hindrance in the upgradation of the Army's preparedness in the event of war. Keeping this in mind, the Indian Army has come up with an incredibly ambitious plan to finalise a Rs. 15,000 crore indigenous project, which would address the increasingly worrying problem of deteriorating stockpile.
"The overall cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 15,000 crore and we have set a specific target for the next 10 years in terms of the volume of ammunition to be produced," a senior government official told PTI.
"The indigenisation of the ammunition project will be biggest such programme in decades," said the official elaborated further.
While achieving some level of indigenization would definitely help the Army cut its dependence on imports, the project would also arm the Army with a 30-day inventory of all major ammunition in the event of a two-front war.
It is being reported that in order of priority, artillery guns, grenade launchers, ammunition for air defence systems and infantry combat vehicles would be produced in certain and specific timelines.
The Indian army is the second largest Territorial Army in the world and therefore the increasing dependence on imports had been seen as a warning signal for national security. In July last year, a CAG report had raised an alarm after auditing the stockpile and concluding that only 61 varieties of ammunition were available out of a total of 152 and that they would last just 10 days in a war.