CAG pulls up Army's ageing helicopters

The CAG in its report tabled in Parliament on Friday, mentioned, "The helicopters held are old and ageing, with 52 per cent of the fleet more than 30 years old. The effective availability of helicopters for operations gets further reduced to 40 per cent of the authorisation due to low level of serviceability of the existing fleet."

It  also found that out of the 181 Cheetah and Chetak helicopters flown by the AA pilots, 51 are 40 years old or older and 78 between 30 and 40 years old.

"It was noticed that despite these shortcomings, AA could not replace its fleet of Cheetah or Chetak helicopters being used for reconnaissance and observation. We observed that against 18 schemes approved in 11th and 12th Service Capital Acquisition Plan, contracts in respect of only four schemes could be concluded in nine years period, so far," The CAG report says.

The CAG  also criticised the Indian army for not having specialised parachutes for over a decade.

"The Combat Free Fall (CFF) parachutes are required during highly specialised operations and are vital for the success of the missions carried out by Parachutes Special Forces Battalions of Indian Army. However, the Army was without these specialised parachutes for over a decade," the report said.