Indian Army Finds Change Difficult

Zebra

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By vivek raghuvanshi , Published: 16 June 2008

NEW DELHI - Indian officials are questioning whether the Army structure and the average soldier are capable of handling the influx of sophisticated equipment being procured, and if Army doctrine has kept pace with global challenges.

The majority of the troops will need substantial training before they can adapt to the changes advanced technology will bring to the service, officials said.

"The Indian Army, like most armies of the world, is highly traditional and therefore very conservative in its attitude and outlook. It does not visualize and accept changes easily. I have personal experience of that. The old adage that 'armies tend to fight the last war' is not without some level of truth," said former Gen.Ved Pratap Malik, retired chief of the Army Staff.

A senior Army serving officer said modern weaponry and equipment has been inducted at a much faster pace over the last five years, but the soldiers who will use the equipment are being recruited at lower education levels.

The officer said the Army needs to restructure itself to accommodate more technology-literate soldiers into the service hierarchy.

Indian global interests also have changed while military doctrine has lagged behind, officials said.

The Indian Army Doctrine – 2004, said, "As part of the Southern Asian region, India has considerable interests in the areas stretching from West Asia through Central Asia and South Asia to South East Asia."

The doctrine further says that the Indian Ocean region is of great importance to India due to the high volume of Indian and international trade that transits. The Army should be prepared for swift, short-lived battles in the future, including preparation for littoral warfare, the doctrine says.

Since then, there has been a steady shift in weapon procurement toward more precision-guided weapons; reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition assets; automated command-and-control systems; network-centric systems; and long-range firepower.

While equipment procurement has been guided by the 2004 doctrine, some Indian defense planners say doctrinal reviews must be made more frequently.

Discussing trends of military acquisition, Rahul Bhonsle, retired Army brigadier and New Delhi-based defense analyst, said, "The trends indicate that there is greater willingness and acceptability of integration of resources, particularly for reconnaissance and surveillance as well as battlefield interdiction, more reliance on firepower and greater use of precision weapons to attain battlefield objectives. Network centricity as a concept has been accepted, but its full implementation is likely to take some more time."

Service weapon procurement trends will continue to focus on increased firepower rather than maneuver assets, Bhonsle said.

According to Malik, "Army developments in weapons, equipment and other capabilities give rise to new tactics and strategies. Due to faster technological progress, military doctrinal revisions are now needed more frequently; every five to seven years, instead of 25-30 years as was the case earlier. There is much greater emphasis on the versatility of the combat forces. The military has to be more innovative, receptive to new ideas and changes."

In the last few years, Malik noted, many serving and retired Army officers have sought revisions in Army doctrine and organization due to the changed geopolitical and strategic environment.

The threat from China and Pakistan are real, while low-level conflicts will become a permanent challenge, the officer said. â– 

Indian Army Finds Change Difficult - Defense News
 

nitesh

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This is insult to common jawan, people really underestimate their capability to learn new technologies. From my personal experience they are quite capable of learning new technologies, it is the persons who are training needs to change their methods slightly
 

Zebra

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This article is bit old , Published in 2008 .

We are always free to disagree with it anyway .

Just I posted it as a different point of view of others , towards IA .

( May be ) they are totally wrong . :ranger:
 

W.G.Ewald

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This is insult to common jawan, people really underestimate their capability to learn new technologies. From my personal experience they are quite capable of learning new technologies, it is the persons who are training needs to change their methods slightly
Everything depends on the training doctrine. Why should IA not meet today's challenges? Certainly IA soldiers will take pride in mastering new skills. The article seems unnecessarily negative.
 

nitesh

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This article is bit old , Published in 2008 .

We are always free to disagree with it anyway .

Just I posted it as a different point of view of others , towards IA .

( May be ) they are totally wrong . :ranger:
They are not completely wrong, their is always an organizational inertia, it takes some time to change things. An average jawan likes anything that is simple and rugged, less maintenance required, that does translates that he can not understand new technologies. But the article theme is that a 10th pass jawan is incapable of handling new technologies is gross generalization.
 

pankaj nema

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This article is partially correct

I have seen a TV interview of Gen J J Singh and when asked about OLD equipment he said that
Modernisation is a deliberate and slow process because rapid technological changes creates a new
set of problems

Modernisation is NOT only about availability of finances

The other factors that have to be considered are

the remaining useful life of existing equipment , training of personnel , maintenance procedures
have to be formalised and standardised and " Base repair depots " of Indian Army
where all equipment goes for servicing have to be upgraded for the new systems

Then there is an entire question of spares availability

When modern electro optical equipment for catching terrorists infiltrating through LOC was inducted
in a hurry then it led to many problems and headaches for the army which had be sorted out
so as to make the FULL use of the new equipment

New equipment doesnt become fully operational immediately It TAKES TIME
 

Zebra

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They are not completely wrong, their is always an organizational inertia, it takes some time to change things. An average jawan likes anything that is simple and rugged, less maintenance required, that does translates that he can not understand new technologies. But the article theme is that a 10th pass jawan is incapable of handling new technologies is gross generalization.
Yeah , it will be a process which may take its own time . At the end will reach top to bottom .

btw, IA's 10th pass jawan is incapable of handling new tech and their Tire 1 , which is the vast majority of their army is capable of it !

US Military Enlistment Standards -- Education
 

agentperry

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but obvious for the army of such big size.

an army jawan is treated like a livestock of nomad which can be taken to anywhere his/her stupid master wants to take him be it freezing himalayas or dry thar.

for a jawan, it is very important to know where he is to be stationed. if a person is joining army and is stationed in thar then he will be more than happy to learn new tactic that will increase his efficacy and survivability in case of war and extreme environment. but now this soldier is stationed in thar for some years, then stationed in J&K then in north east and finally in jungles of sundarban. this reequires lots of patience and calmness because every area is different from each other and skills for a military soldier is of very deep nature requiring good understanding of every thing included in it.

for any person who is transfered to multiple departments bleakly related to one another, it is very frustrating to undergo training.

also there should be a distinction between a common soldier and special forces.

a common soldier is also trained like special force commando in varied atmosphere and terrains.

a common soldier should have restricted domain to act in.
 

Kunal Biswas

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This is insult to common jawan, people really underestimate their capability to learn new technologies. From my personal experience they are quite capable of learning new technologies, it is the persons who are training needs to change their methods slightly
Common man looking at a Regular Solider only gets an impression of a Maj-door..

What he don`t know that the lowest level in Army are a Metric pass..




Beside, The person who is asking, does he know abt the subject he is talking ?
 

Kunal Biswas

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The new tactics and new technology had to be implemented by any means, Getting scared and making statements like

" Indian army is huge any changes need evaluation over evaluations "



The condition of Infantry is bad in terms of equipment and modern training based on new technologies..

New technologies have to be Experimented within Army, Not to wait for some one else to do the job outside this country..
 

Kunal Biswas

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According to Malik, "Army developments in weapons, equipment and other capabilities give rise to new tactics and strategies. The military has to be more innovative, receptive to new ideas and changes."
Exactly what i want to convey..

Thank you !!
 

Kunal Biswas

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IA's 10th pass jawan is incapable of handling new tech and their Tire 1 , which is the vast majority of their army is capable of it !

US Military Enlistment Standards -- Education
But the article theme is that a 10th pass jawan is incapable of handling new technologies is gross generalization.
Super Soldiers..

We Dumb Soldiers are operating Guided missiles with different frequency radars, Large scale military servers, Making our own software and Net system, Web pages consist of million lines of codes, Still the super duper electronic is to much of our understanding..

Anyone see how Army trains in different academic and Service courses..



What a article and People do believe in this crap pile..
 

p2prada

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It is a given fact that the average Indian soldier is not as highly qualified or educated as his western counterpart.

However an 18 year old who is identified to be trainable can be trained to use new technologies with a little more effort than his western counterpart. As long as he can read and write, he can be trained. Afterall, the question is not literate or illiterate, it is trainable and untrainable.

Assimilation of multiple languages will be a challenge too.
 

hitesh

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The educational qualifications required for lowest level of hierarchy in army & the quality is in the drain , Indian army wants cannon fodders not thinking soldiers . How you expect a NCO to understand technology if he never studied or seen in his entire life .
Indian is a third world country & so are IA's soldiers . You NRI people don't know the ground reality .IA is still living in ancient era compared to western world armies . Indian still requires Kargil, Kasab type shocks to get out of coma & realize their in-competencies .IA is great in number count only :toilet:
 

pankaj nema

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We Dumb Soldiers are operating Guided missiles with different frequency radars, Large scale military servers, Making our own software and Net system, Web pages consist of million lines of codes, Still the super duper electronic is to much of our understanding..

..
That is why Sir it is necessary that Rapid Technological Changes DO NOT HAPPEN

OTher wise it will take a very heavy toll of men , money and machines

We have a system of Technology absorbtion in our armed forces

Once a technology is selected it is used for a certain number of years

The technological profile needed by India HAS TO match ONLY China and Pakistan NOT Nato
 

pankaj nema

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.IA is great in number count only :
That is absolutely true and that will always remain

There is NO SUBSTITUTE to FEET on the ground

The most tech savvy armed forces of US and NATO have realised that in Afghanistan and Iraq
 
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Kunal Biswas

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That is why Sir it is necessary that Rapid Technological Changes DO NOT HAPPEN

OTher wise it will take a very heavy toll of men , money and machines

We have a system of Technology absorbtion in our armed forces

Once a technology is selected it is used for a certain number of years

The technological profile needed by India HAS TO match ONLY China and Pakistan NOT Nato
Despite given the above data, Still i don`t know why most believe this..

Army has its own courses, Where a new technology is taught before its implication, How to use it that is taught here..


The moto is adapt and survive both physical and mentally, Newer gen system are much easier to use than previous mechanical which require more labor in calculating etc..

New system ease Army`s work, And these are not different form using a simple Computer..



I am here to remove confusion most have, Ask anything you doubt cannot do, Any system or application we are about to use in Army ?

Please ask..
 

nitesh

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Yeah , it will be a process which may take its own time . At the end will reach top to bottom .

btw, IA's 10th pass jawan is incapable of handling new tech and their Tire 1 , which is the vast majority of their army is capable of it !

US Military Enlistment Standards -- Education
Boss, as I said, you are assuming about other's people intellect, that too an organization which more then 1 million strong and motivated.
 

Bhadra

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[i\ said:
The technological profile needed by India HAS TO match ONLY China and Pakistan NOT Nato[/i]


Pray, tell me why not? Is not NATO operating in our neighbourhood? In todays globalisation, everyone has to match every one else or rather be ahead of others.

One of the famous Generals had said : " You will get peons if you pay the soldiers the salary of peons". Some members here want our soldiers to operate satellite technology but will take back even the lowly allowances of a peon from the soldiers.

Great expectations ! How are our officers lot paid as compared to DRDO scientists having same qualifications ??
 

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