Later, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a continuous process of evolution of the mechanized forces, including their equipment, training and operational doctrine. Thereafter, the infantry units were provided with Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), which could carry the infantry to the objective speedily to take the best advantage of the ‘shock and awe’ effect created by the tanks that had overrun the objective. The military think tank, after the success of 1971 war, realized the significance of mechanizing the forces to achieve tangible results during combat and the first mechanized infantry unit came into existence in 1979. The PT-76 regiment that participated in the war for liberation of Bangladesh was 45 Cavalry and I have had the proud privilege of commanding this exceptional Armoured Regiment (though much later in 2006). Bangladesh was liberated in just a 14 days war with Pakistan. It was only after the success of the 1971 war, where Indian Army launched mobile, aggressive operations using PT-76 tanks that the mindset began to change. The military doctrine was based on allowing the enemy to attack first, absorb the attack and then launch a counter attack. The Army operations were mainly infantry oriented and was organized, equipped and trained to prevent territorial loss. The Chinese debacle of 1962 had put caution into the mindset of our military planners and political masters. These battle groups will comprise of all the elements that will be fighting together and will be located in a manner that they can be effective in a much shorter timeframe and with much greater effectiveness to fight a short, intense war and capture shallow objectives without crossing the nuclear threshold of both our adversaries. The size of these battle groups will be bigger than a Brigade and smaller than a Division. The IBGs will have both offensive and defensive roles. In order to improve synergy, cohesiveness, save time of mobilization and enhance combat effectiveness, Army will now restructure to have 11 to 13, terrain and role specific Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs). Hence, their integration and synergy may fall short of the expectations.įurther, it was observed during OP Parakram, when India planned to launch an offensive into Pakistan after the terrorist attack on Parliament on 13 December 2001 that it took more than two weeks of time to mobilize and reorganize troops into battle groups for launching across the border. Besides, it is only during an operation that various combat and combat support elements are grouped together to fight as battle groups. These units have a specific role while they are a part of a particular formation (strike/ holding) and as it moves to another formation its operational role also changes. The various corps are equipped and organized to constitute ‘strike corps’ for offensive role and ‘holding corps’ to maintain territorial integrity of own international border. The aim of restructuring the 1.3 million strong Indian Army is to make it ‘leaner and meaner’ and enhance its combat effectiveness.Īt present the Army is structured to have 3-5 units comprising a Brigade, 3-5 Brigades comprising a Division, 3-4 Divisions comprising a Corps.
The approval for restructuring of the Indian Army was granted by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in August 2019.