Indian Armed Forces

Supreme command of India's armed forces--the third-largest in the world-- rests with the president, but actual responsibility for national defense lies with the cabinet committee for political affairs under the chairmanship of the prime minister. The minister of defense is responsible to parliament for all defense matters.

The ministry of defense provides administrative and operational control over the three services through their respective chiefs of staff. The armed forces have always been loyal to constitutional authority and maintain a tradition of non-involvement in political affairs.

Command Structure

India's military command structure has been developing a defense staff or unified command apparatus. The current structure is:

Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee

Strategic Forces Command -- announced January 2003 and becoming operational early in the year. Strategic Forces Command will control India's nuclear and missile arsenal. The Officer Commanding-in-Chief will be Air Marshal T. M. Asthana.

Integrated Defence Staff

Tri-Service Command

Defence Intelligence Agency

Indian Army

The army numbers about 1.1 million personnel and fields 34 divisions. Designed primarily to defend the country's frontiers, the army has become heavily committed to internal security duties in Kashmir and the Northeast.

The Indian Army is organized under five Commands:

Northern Command headquartered at Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir
Western Command headquartered at Chandimandir in Chandigarh
Central Command headquartered at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh
Eastern Command headquartered at Kolkata
Southern Command headquartered at Pune in Maharashtra.

Each command is headed by a lieutenant general.

Below commands are the Corps. Some corps are unofficially designated "holding" corps. Their primary function is defensive. Others are unofficially designated "Strike" Corps, and are held in reserve in each Command.

Two Divisions or Independent Brigade Groups form a Corps.

Northern Command Order of Battle

XV Corps, Srinagar, Kashmir

19th Infantry Division ,Baramula

28th (Gurais) Division,

57th Mountain Division (Sharifabad, reinforcement from Dimapur in Eastern Command)

XV Corps Artillery Brigade

XIV Corps at Leh

3rd Infantry Division (Leh)

8th Mountain Division (Nimer)

XIV Corps Artillery Brigade

XVI Corps at Nagrota (Jammu)

10th Infantry Division (Akhnur)

25th Infantry Division (Rajauri)

26th Infantry Division (Jammu)

29th Infantry Division (Pathankot)

39th Infantry Division (Yol).

2nd Independent Armoured Brigade

3rd Independent Armoured Brigade

16th Independent Armoured Brigades

XVI Corps Artillery Brigade

Northern Command is the command in which general officers on the fast track are sent, usually commanding counter-insurgency forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

Indian Navy

The navy is much smaller, but it is relatively well-armed among Indian Ocean navies, operating one aircraft carrier, 41 surface combatants, and 18 submarines. The fleet is aging, and replacement of ships and aircraft has not been adequately funded. India's coast guard is small and is organized along the lines of the U.S. Coast Guard. With India's long coastline and extensive Exclusive Economic Zone, the navy and coast guard work hard to patrol the waters dictated by India's economic and strategic interests.

The Navy is organized into three Commands:

Eastern Command, headquartered at Mumbai
Southern Command, headquarterd at Visakhapatnam
Western Command, headquartered at Kochi. The Admiral Commanding-in-Chief is Vice Admiral Arun Prakash.

Each command is organized under an Admiral Officer Commandign.

Indian Air Force (Bharatiya Vayu Sena )

The air force, the world's fourth largest, has over 600 combat aircraft and more than 500 transports and helicopters. The air force takes pride in its ability to fly low and fast, as well as to operate in the extremes of temperature and altitude ranging from the Thar Desert to the Siachen Glacier. The air force has enhanced the capability of its fighter force with the addition of the multi-role Sukhoi Su-30, and it hopes to replace much of its MiG-21 fleet with the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft currently under development.

The Indian Air Force is organized under five Commands:

Western Air Command, headquartered at New Delhi
Southwestern Air Command, headquartered at Jodhpur, Rajasthan
Eastern Air Command, headquartered at Shillong, Meghalaya
Central Air Command, headquartered at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
Southern Air Command, headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala

There are also two functional commands: the Training Command at Bangalore, Karnataka, and the Maintenance Command at Nagpur, Maharashtra.

India exploded a nuclear device in 1974 with the Smiling Buddha test, which it has consistently claimed was for peaceful purposes. Others saw it as a response to China's nuclear weapons capability. It was then universally perceived, notwithstanding official denials, to possess, or to be able to quickly assemble, nuclear weapons. In 1997 India deployed its own medium-range missile and is now developing a long-range missile capable of reaching targets in China's industrial heartland, or all of Pakistan. See nuclear proliferation.

Military branches: Army, Navy (including naval air arm), Air Force, various security or paramilitary forces (includes Border Security Force, Assam Rifles, and Rashtriya Rifles)

Military manpower - military age: 17 years of age

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 274,679,455 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 161,223,332 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 10,759,607 (2000 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $10.055 billion (FY00)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 2.5% (FY00)

See also : India