The Ministry of Defence has finally cleared a 15-year Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP), following the Army Chief, General V K Singh’s sensational leak of the letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh revealing the sorry state of defence preparedness. With the integrated plan, the Indian armed forces would be able to plan their big-ticket purchase in advance, in collaboration with industry. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) comprising the Minister of Defence A K Antony and three Service chiefs approved the LTIPP. The Plan defines the acquisition road map for the three forces for the next 15 years. Most modern armed forces draw up a perspective plan, which they share with the industry in advance. While the US, the UK and Australia draw up a 15-year perspective plan, the French publish one with a 30-year perspective.
Only the Indian Navy had a perspective plan while the IAF and the army had never had such a practice. According to defence ministry officials, based on the new LTIPP, a technology perspective capability road map would be made and shared with DRDO, defence public sector undertakings and Indian industry, so that they could plan ahead
