New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) have pulled up the Defence Ministry for the ageing assets - claiming that 52 per cent of Army Aviation (AA) helicopters are more than 30 years old.
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 was 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 reads.
Not the least, it 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.
It was learnt that despite the order for specialised parachutes was placed to DRDO in 2006, the Ordnance Factory Board failed to produced it.
CAG report came in the wake of concerns raised by the wives of defence pilots to Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar complaining about unfit choppers flown by their husbands.
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