As China keeps strengthening its position in Eastern Ladakh and has also increased its deployment of troops in several extreme high altitude areas, the Indian Army is looking at raising procurement of special clothing and mountaineering equipment.
The Indian army on Thursday (June 17) released a list and projected figures of higher procurement of 17 types of special clothing and mountaineering equipment and priority will be given to Indian manufacturers, who make the said equipment, under the Make of India initiative as most of these items are imported.
Also, special clothing and mountaineering equipment will have to be procured from indigenous sources starting January 2023 because it falls under the “second positive indigenisation list” of 108 items notified by the Ministry of Defence last month given in the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.
As per the army’s projections, it needs 50,000 to 90,000 sets of Extreme Cold Weather Clothing System and a similar number of special sleeping bags, rucksacks, summer suit for super high altitude area, multipurpose boots and snow goggles.
Additional requirements include about 12,000 special woollen socks, about three lakh sets of two- and three-layer gloves, about 500 High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema (HAPO) chambers, which is a mandatory requirement for providing emergency treatment to soldiers deployed in extreme cold and high altitude areas.
Along with this, the Army has projected an annual requirement of 3,000 to 5,000 avalanche airbags and a similar number of avalanche victim detectors.
These types of equipment are a must for the Indian army to operate super-high altitude areas and “Every individual being inducted is given a fresh set of such clothing and with the additional troops an annual requirement of approximately 30,000 such sets is expected,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.
“While jackets, trousers and gloves are a part of the personal protective equipment of a soldier, avalanche victim detectors and avalanche cords are rescue equipment while HAPO bags are essential life-saving equipment,” the officer said.
It is also the fact that the Indian army suffers more casualties in Siachen and many higher super high altitude posts due to weather as compared to enemy action and as per data shared in the Parliament, 74 Army personnel had died due to avalanches in three years till 2019.
“This clothing and equipment is essential to protect the soldier from the elements and assist in his duties. It is currently being procured from various countries and especially due to the sudden situation last year, emergency procurement was made from few countries as they were not available with Indian manufacturers,” said the second officer, who didn’t wish to be named.
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