Service chiefs brief Arun Jaitley on defence preparedness

All three service chiefs and defence secretary on Wednesday briefed defence minister Arun Jaitley on military preparedness and other issues. Army chief General Bikram Singh also separately met
prime minister Narendra Modi.

While the service chiefs -- General Bikram Singh, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Admiral Robin Dhowan – gave detailed presentations to the minister on various issues related to the three wings of defence
forces, defence secretary RK Mathur briefed the minister on defence procurement, research and development, defence finance and other welfare measures taken by the ministry, said an officer

The army chief during his meeting with prime minister Narendra Modi is believed to have apprised him of the situation along the international borders on both eastern and western sectors.

Sources also claimed that Jaitley was informed how army has not bought artillery guns since 1987 after the Bofors debacle and how shortage of nearly 6 lakh hand grenades and obsolete transport helicopters is
affecting preparedness.

Indian Air Force is down to 33 squadrons of fighter jets against the required strength of 39 squadrons. Efforts to procure 126 medium combat jets has not been completed after seven years of efforts. And
the navy too is short of conventional submarines as the fleets of diesel-powered submarines is down to a single digit and projects to develop underwater capability are lagging behind of schedule.