Army does not use outdated equipment: Parrikar

Outdated military equipment is not utilised by the Indian army and government has a "well established procedure" to replace it, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told parliament Tuesday.

"Outdated equipments are not utilized by soldiers. The government has well established procedures to replace outdated military equipment," Parrikar said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

In reply to another question, the defence minister said: "Replacement of ageing and obsolete arms and equipment is part of modernisation of the armed forces which is a continuous process based on threat perception, operational challenges, technological changes and available resources."

Parrikar said the process is based on a 15 year Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP), five year Service Capital Acquisition Plan (SCAP) and Annual Acquisition Plan (AAP).

Procurement of required equipment and weapon systems is carried out as per the AAP (2014-16) in accordance with the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) from various Indian and foreign vendors to keep the armed forces in a state of readiness.

"The expenditure on capital acquisition in respect of orders placed on Indian vendors and foreign vendors during the period 2011-12 to 2013-14 was 53.9 percent and 46.1 percent respectively," he said.