Army well equipped with adequate stock of ammunition: MoS Defence Bhamre

Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre on Tuesday said that there is the adequate stock of ammunition with the Indian Army.

Bhamre said: "It's well equipped for meeting any operational requirements. Adequate reserves have been authorised in terms of War Wastage Reserves (WWR).

Some of the measures taken to ensure adequate availability of ammunition include - placing of a Five-Year Roll On Indent on Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), finalisation of an Ammunition Road Map, in respect to certain identified ammunitions and procurements done.

In addition, the financial power to ensure the availability and maintenance of minimum levels of critical ammunition, has been delegated to the army. This is being done to meet the requirement and to enable them to maintain military preparedness at all times.

Further, increasing the stock of ammunition to the desired level is a continuous process. These requirements are identified every year and procurements are undertaken accordingly.

Recently, 19 contracts amounting to Rs 11,739 crore have been finalized by the army.

This information was given by Bhamre in a written reply to Congress Member of Parliament (MP) M.V. Rajeev Gowda in Rajya Sabha today.

Yesterday, Gowda wrote to Bhambre and expressed concern over the shortage of ammunition for the army, in terms of WWR.

The authorization and holding of ammunition are as per the operational requirements of the army.