Indian Army’s Future Infantry Soldiers To Get Lethal Weapons And Better Protection



By Abhishek Saxsena

India has never been an instigator of war, but unfortunately has been involved in five major ones since Independence. The Indian Army has proved its mettle and emerged victorious and a huge credit goes to the Infantry. A large part of the 1.4 million strong Indian Army is made up of the Infantry. In war, the artillery pulverises the enemy with heavy gun fire, the armoured corps charge ahead to take over enemy territory. But it’s the Infantry that holds the ground. Just so we understand how important the infantry is, most Chiefs of Army Staff have been infantry officers.

To prepare for future wars, the Indian Army is in the process of modernising all its arms. New generation T-90MS tanks for the Armoured corps and field gun programs for the artillery are being pursued, the infantry is not to be left behind. The modernisation program began with the F-INSAS (Future Infantry Soldier As a System), but has now been dropped in favour of two separate programs – the Battlefield Management System and arming the Infantry with better offensive and defensive gear.

Modern infantryman



Currently the Infantry battalions of the Army are equipped with INSAS assault rifles. While the gun hasn’t found wide acceptance among the soldiers on the ground, the Army is in the process of acquiring new assault rifles to arm the Infantry. To this effect the army will now tender for the 7.62x51mm calibre rifles.

The reason is that the Army prefers the 7.62 round, that kills, to the 5.56 round that incapacitates. The Army has specified the new rifles to have high kill probability at 500 meter range. The military wisdom till now was that the 5.56mm rifle was better for conventional war because it generally injured an enemy soldier, tying down at least two of his colleagues to carry him in the battlefield. Conversely, the 7.62mm rifle was better for counter-insurgency since terrorists had to be killed at the first instance, eliminating the risk of "suicide bombing". The fully-automatic Excalibur, which fires 5.56x45mm ammunition, is a much-improved version of INSAS rifle that entered service in 1994-1995. But the Army now wants 7.62mm rifles for greater lethal prowess.

The Army wants to quickly acquire about 65,000 assault rifles, and additionally wants to get 165,000 carbines for close quarter battles.
According to close sources, Remington,Kalashnikov & Colt are said to be in the race giving stiff competition.

Better protected

The Army will also source a total of 350,000 bullet proof jackets to better protect the soldiers. Last year 50,000 jackets were procured on an emergency basis after the Surgical Strikes in Pakistan. The jackets for the future infantryman will be light weight so as not to impede mobility, while still affording protection to head, neck and groin.

New light weight ballistic helmets are also required, which number around 150,000. The helmets will be able to stop a 9mm bullet from a distance of 20 metres and also have provision for mounting night vision devices. The helmets for ‘commanders’ will be equipped with integrated communication headsets.

Battlefield Management System


With technology permeating every field today, future wars will be network centric and each future Indian Infantryman will be directly ‘connected’ to the command center. The system will allow transmission of data and information in the form of images that the soldier sees also being viewed by decision makers in the command headquarters.

The system will be packed with technology – sensors, laser range finders, cameras. The system will merge all this information to give the soldier a real-time picture of the battlefield. The tactical level communication will take place over secure radio networks, while India’s communication satellites will allow for command level communication. Each soldier will have a personal GPS device and will be able to see the position of other soldiers via a helmet mounted display.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Network Centric Warfare Capabilities & INDIAN ARMED FORCES

Image
By: Next Generation Weapons Technology Network Centric Warfare and Indian Navy & IAF and land based units. More satellites will be launched as grid as launched previously. In addition to making platforms and infrastructure for network centricity, the Navy has also made organizational changes to create and efficiently manage the transition to seamless Network Centric capabilities. The creation of a new post of Assistant Chief of Naval S taff (Communications Space and Network Centric Operations) is step in the process to migrate from a ‘Platform Centric Navy’ to a ‘Network Enabled Navy’. During various exercises, Network Centric Warfare (NCW) has been one of the crucial aspects being validated. During the various coordinated exercises conducted by the Army with the Air Force, the endeavor has been to validate and integrate the use of all available assets, including satellites, UAVs and HUMINT (Human intelligence) to assist commanders at all levels in taking dynamic and pr...
Read more

Where Is Article 370 Now!!!!, That Rohingyas And Bangladeshis Are Being Settled In Jammu And Ladakh ???

Image
Jammu is up in arms against the authorities. This time, it is not against discriminatory policies being pursued by the successive Kashmir-dominated and Valley-centric governments in Jammu & Kashmir since 1947, but against the settlement of Rohingyas from Myanmar in Jammu and Ladakh, both strategically vital for national security. According to the late Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the number of Rohingya Muslims living in different parts of Jammu city and around it, was 5,107 in 2010 (AINS, 10 October 2015). And, as per Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s June 2016 Assembly statement, there were 13,400 Rohingyas and Bangladeshis living in camps in Jammu. She said “Bathindi Ka Plot is home to the highest number of Rohingya Muslims” (The Hindustan Times, 5 December 2016). The break-up of Rohingyas settled in the state is as follows: Jammu – 5,086, Jammu’s Samba district – 634 and Ladakh – 7,664. The total number is 13, 334. The Jammu Chamber of C...
Read more

The Heat is on!! for INDIA as China Unveils its 5th Gen Stealth J20 Fighter Jet ; Pakistan expresses interest to buy

Image
China on Tuesday unveiled its J-20 stealth fighter jet at its biggest air show which will have major implications for India as it is the first indigenously-made fifth-generation Chinese aircraft which Pakistan has shown interest in acquiring. Two J-20 aircraft which made waves in the Chinese media in the last few years flew at the Zhuhai city air show where the Pakistan Air Force is also taking part flying with its J-17 Thunder jets which are jointly manufactured with China. This is the first, public show of the J-20 warplane. Pakistan, the largest importer of Chinese arms has said earlier that it is in talks with China to buy the FC-31 - an export variant of the same aircraft. The FC-31 was briefly flown in the 2014 Zhuhai airshow. The stealth aircraft is regarded as major breakthrough for China which is otherwise mostly reliant on Russian aircraft including advanced versions of Sukhois. India is yet to make stealth aircraft which can penetrate through enemy radars. The J...
Read more