After IAF's strike on Balakot, Centre turns to Russia to boost ammo power

Army short of air defence missiles, rockets, anti-tank ammunition

In Kargil, in 1999, the operations to evict Pakistani infiltrators found the military short of artillery ammunition and precision-guided aircraft bombs. Today, after the Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) strike on Balakot on February 26 and retaliation the next day by Pakistani fighters, the military finds itself badly short of air defence missiles and surface-to-surface rockets.

In 1999, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) obtained bombs and ammunition from Israel on an emergency basis. This time round, the MoD has asked Russia to urgently replenish India’s firepower.

India’s emergency requests on Russia include launchers and missiles for the Igla-S “very short range air defence