he Army is now sprucing up its stores and acquiring air defence guns after a gap of three decades. Majority of the systems on the Army’s air defence inventory are either obsolete or nearing obsolescence, as the last air defence guns, which are meant to provide an ‘umbrella’ for the Army’s static assets from an aerial object, were procured in early 1980s.
In a letter dated March 12, 2012, the then Army Chief General V K Singh had warned the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the country’s security was at risk by pointing out that 97 per cent of the air defence inventory was ‘obsolete’. Now, the Centre has decided to strengthen the Army’s air defence with planned induction of a wide array of sophisticated radars and missile systems at a cost of over Rs 20,000 crore. The Army is all set to launch two units of the indigenously developed ‘Akash’ surface-to air missile. The Army and the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), which produced the missile system, are looking for a suitable date for the ceremony. Officials sources claim that since the project is the first in line of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘ Make in India’ initiative, the Ministry of Defence(MoD) wants to make the launch a mega event. The ministry is in touch with the PMO and wants the Prime Minister to be present on the occasion.
IF YOU DID SOME RESEARCH YOU WOULD KNOW THAT THOSE WARE THE WEAPONS HE IS TALKING ABOUT BESIDES THE AKASH