Indian army obsolete, claims Gen VK Singh

India may have a million-man army but its tanks are short of ammunition, the country's air defences are largely obsolete and its poorly equipped infantry cannot fight at night.

The damning assessment, contained in a leaked letter written by the army chief to India's prime minister, is deeply embarrassing for a country that recently overtook China to become the world's biggest arms importer, and which has rivals to the east and west.

"The state of the major (fighting) arms i.e. mechanised forces, artillery, air defence, infantry and special forces, as well as the engineers and signals, is indeed alarming," wrote Gen VK Singh in the letter to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. The army's entire tank fleet is "devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks", while the air defence system is "97 per cent obsolete and it doesn't give the deemed confidence to protect … from the air," he added.

The letter is the latest salvo in a very public battle between the army chief and the civilian government after Gen Singh was defeated a legal challenge against mandatory retirement at the age of 62 in May.

The leak caused uproar in parliament with angry opposition politicians accusing the government of neglecting the country's defences.