New Delhi, Apr 3 (IANS): India Monday approved the crucial five-year and 15-year modernisation plans of the armed forces beginning 2012, after almost a year-long delay.
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), at a meeting chaired by Defence Minister A.K. Antony, gave its nod for the 15-year Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP) that will end in 2027 and the five-year plan that will end in 2017, a defence ministry official said here.
"The DAC considered the perspective plans of the defence forces in a meeting and gave in principle approval to two important planning documents of the armed forces -- The LTIPP 2012-27 and Five-Year Defence Plan 2012-17," the official said.
However, the ministry did not provide specific details of the plans. Usually, the LTIPP and five-year plans are approved a year ahead of their beginning. However, this time around, the approval came a day after the plan period had begun on Sunday.
The meeting was attended among others by Indian Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma, Indian Army chief Gen. V.K. Singh and Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne, and defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma.
"These plans have been formulated in a deliberate planning process spread over more than two years involving the defence ministry, Integrated Defence Staff headquarters and the Services headquarters," he said.
Consequent to this clearance, which covers the vision for 12th, 13th and 14th Defence Plans, the unclassified version of the LTIPP will be promulgated in the form of Technology Perspective Capability Roadmap (TPCR) to enable the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Defence Public Sector Undertakings and the Indian industry to plan their research and development roadmap.
While the LTIPP is a broad vision document, the 12th Defence Plan deals more in detail with the specific requirements and modernisation plans for the armed forces, as also projections for the allocation of resources for the modernisation and day-to-day functioning.
Both the documents deal with the capital and revenue projections and are the correct step forward towards planning the functioning and growth of the armed forces.
The LTIPP and the 12th Defence Plan chart out the roadmap for development of capabilities for our armed forces in line with the future operational requirements and the envisaged role that the country will play within the region and outside.