Keeping an eye on Pakistan’s nuclear tipped non-strategic battle-field missile, India will soon acquire 1500 advanced Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) protection suits for its Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC).
An APC – carrying about 10 fully armed soldiers- is an offensive platform. It is used to carry troops in and to the battlefront. India has over 36 Mechanized Infantry Regiments and has nearly 1800 APC.
The acquisition will cost the exchequer Rs 1265 crore. This decision to acquire the NBC protection suits was taken at Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting that is chaired by the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Pakistan has recently developed the Hatf-9 (Nasr) – a Short Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM). Hatf-9 is equipped with a tactical nuclear warhead (TNW) – non strategic nuclear weapon – and is intended for use in the battlefield as a weapon for war fighting.
Using TNWs is Pakistan’s response to India ‘Cold Start’ doctrine (Proactive Offensive Operations) – mobilising quickly to carry out immediate but limited retaliatory attacks.
The NBC protection suits will be built by Bharat Electronics Limited and will be designed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), sources said. “APC we use now have a manually operated NBC suits, there is need for better and full automated advanced NBC suits,” a senior Army officer aware of the decision told Huffington Post. The advanced NBC protection suits will have censors that will detect in coming threats and take action on its own to protect the solider, the officer added.