Indian Army will get 50,000 new bullet-proof vests after a decade

After a wait of 10 years, the Indian army will finally get 50,000 new bullet-proof vests after. However, the army still needs 3,03,765 such more vests to protect its soldiers.

The army's existing bulky bullet-proof vests -- with poor protection -- are near the end of their operational life.

"The jackets will be delivered from August onwards. All the jackets are to be delivered by January 2017," a defence ministry source told The Times of India.

The 50,000 vests will be given to soldier after the army signed an "emergency" procurement contract worth Rs 140 crores.

Given the huge shortage of such vests in the 1.18-million strong Army, in November 2014, after taking over as defence minister, Manohar Parrikar approved this "interim emergency acquisition" through the "revenue route".

The delay in the induction of bullet-proof jackets has been blamed on "convoluted procurement procedures."

In October 2015, the government scrapped a tender for modular bullet-proof jackets as the six vendors "failed" to clear field trials. These jackets were supposed to sufficiently protect the head, neck, chest, groin and sides of the soldiers.

They would also have allowed soldiers to move with greater agility during counter-insurgency operations in difficult "unfriendly" terrain.

However, when the samples failed to meet requirements, the army vice-chief's existing financial powers were "relaxed as a one-time exception" to ensure the urgent purchase of 50,000 jackets based on older technical specifications.

"The minister and army Vice-Chief Lt-General M M S Rai pushed to expedite the entire process," said a source.

The shortages in the bullet-proof jackets have been termed "critical" with several parliamentary committees slamming the government for "playing with the lives" of soldiers.

As many as 1.86 lakh jackets were to be supplied to soldiers by 2012 and another 1.67 lakh vests were to be supplied by 2017. None have been acquired till date.

Meanwhile, the Defence Research and Development Organisation has been testing a new bullet-proof jacket prototype that conforms with the new GSQRs. This prototype jacket uses various "state-of-the-art ballistic material" to protect against AK-47 and self-loading rifle bullets.

The source further added that stage-1 and stage-2 tests for the prototype jacket were successfully completed and it "will be" a contender when the government issues tender for the procurement of the bullet-proof jackets via "capital procurement."