Military Army

India’s army is vast, both in terms of its manpower and its conventional arsenal. The regular forces are divided into six regional command Headquarters (HQs), one training command and 11 Corps HQ consisting of three strike Corps and 8 ‘holding’ Corps, including one Desert Corps. Within that overarching structure there are: three armoured divisions, equipped with Soviet-era T-55 and T-72 main battle tanks and the recently upgraded Russian T-90S (3,978 main battle tanks and 190 light tanks in total); 25 mechanised infantry brigades; four divisions of infantry; 10 mountain divisions; seven commando brigades, including one airborne brigade; two artillery divisions and a significant air defence capability, including three regiments equipped with Prithvi and Agni surface-to-surface ballistic missiles (see below). In addition the Army has 17 helicopter squadrons equipped with assault, utility and transport helicopters. Among the army’s conventional armoury are two amphibious landing craft; a reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle capability; in excess of 1,700 armoured infantry fighting vehicles; more than 10,360 artillery pieces; reconnaissance vehicles; armoured personnel carriers; in excess of 3,500 surface-to-air missiles and more than 2,620 man portable air defence systems (MANPADS).

The Indian Army’s immediate procurement priority is the modernisation of its ageing Soviet fleet of main battle tanks. However, in an annual defence press conference on 13 January 2007 the Chief of the Indian Army, General Joginder Jaswant Singh, acknowledged that this was only one capability among 300 requirements that the Army is intending to replace through to 2012, at an estimated cost of $10bn.