Indian Armed Forces - Future

Future

Analysis of the Central Intelligence Agency indicates that India is projected to possess the fourth most capable concentration of power by 2015. According to a report published by the US Congress, India is the developing world's leading arms purchaser.

Stephen P. Cohen and Sunil Dasgupta have criticised ongoing efforts of modernising the armed forces, claiming that unless accompanied by significant political reforms, India's efforts to modernize its armed forces will not alter the country's ability to deal with critical security threats.

Despite efforts however India's over reliance on foreign suppliers for military equipment has led to the armed forces Research & Development (R&D) expenditure being cut in real terms, while the armed forces still face the challenge of ageing equipment and the slow pace of modernisation. In a leaked letter to Prime Minister, General Singh raised the issue of shortcomings within the armed forces. It was found that; the Indian Army lacked sufficient ammunition across its main battle tank fleet while its infantry forces were "crippled with deficiencies" and were lacking key equipment. Additionally, the Army's Air-defence systems were found to be 97% obsolete and special forces were under-equipped and lacking essential weapons.

India is investing 9,970.16 crore (US$1.8 billion) to build a dedicated and secure optical fiber cable (OFC) network for exclusive use of the Army, Navy and Air Force. This will be one of the world's largest closed user group (CUG) networks.