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Prospect of India’s military reform remains dim

印度军改前景不明

来源:China Military Online 责任编辑:Wang Xinjuan
2021-11-15 18:29:05

徐梓程 李家胜

By Xu Zicheng and Li Jiasheng

近期,印度军队动作频频:“阵风”战机列装、“烈火-5”弹道导弹试射……有印媒称,这是印度新一轮军改取得的成果。对此,有分析人士指出,印军朝着精简化、战区化、信息化方向改革过程中,面临诸多阻力。

The Indian military has been quite busy recently, from commissioning the Rafale fighters to test-firing the Agni-V ballistic missile…, which Indian media described as the achievements of the country’s latest military reform. However, the Indian military’s reform toward streamlined, theater-based and information-based armed forces might still face a host of obstacles.

一是文官与军方关系仍难理顺。

First, the relationship between civil officials and military officers remains tangled.

在军改中印度试图加强文官与军方之间的沟通协调,将军方意见直接纳入政府决策体系,改变此前仅由文官出身的国防部长参与决策的状况。一直以来,印度军队长期受文官领导,服从政府决策而不参与政策制定。印度政府担心职业军人长期担任重要岗位,会增加军人干政风险。在军改背景下,军方意见将被更多纳入政府决策,这对政府和军方都是新的考验。

During the reform, the Indian military tries to strengthen the communication and coordination between civil officials and military officers to squeeze the military’s opinions into the government’s decision-making system and change the situation that only the defense minister, who usually comes from a civil background, participates in the decision making. For a long time, the Indian military has always been led by civil officials, with only obligations to follow the government’s decisions but no right to participate in policy-making, because the Indian government worries that having professional servicemen in important positions for the long term will increase the risk of them intervening in state governance. Now with the ongoing military reform, the military’s opinions will be incorporated into the decision-making process, which will be a new test for both the government and the military.

二是印军内部军种隔阂由来已久。

 Second, different military services remain estranged.

印度试图推动军事指挥系统向战区转型。印度新设国防参谋长一职,统一协调陆海空三军,此外,计划将原有19个司令部整合为5个战区司令部。然而,目前的现状和矛盾是,印度三军各自为政,争资源、争地位是家常便饭。他们都试图将国防资源用于自身武器装备发展和力量规模扩大。此前,印度采购22架AH-64E“阿帕奇”直升机,计划装备空军,但陆军强烈要求将其中一半交付自己。在遭到空军拒绝后,陆军转而要求采购39架该型直升机。有分析人士指出,根据印军传统,由拥有深厚陆军背景的官员主持建立战区司令部体制改革,很难得到海空军认同。

India tries to transform its military commanding system to be theater-based. It has appointed its first Chief of Defence Staff to coordinate the army, navy and air force, and it also plans to integrate the original 19 commands into five theater commands. But the problem now is that the Indian army, navy and air force are so not-coordinated that they constantly fight for resources and position, all eager to secure national defense resources to develop their own weaponry and equipment and enhance their own scale and strength. Earlier on, India bought 22 AH-64E Apache helicopters that were intended for the air force, but the army insisted on having half of them and, when its request was rejected by the air force, turned to demand another 39 helicopters of the same type. Analysts said given the tradition in the Indian military, if the reform for a theater-based command system is led by an official with a strong army background, it’s unlikely to get support from the navy and air force.

三是受新冠肺炎疫情和经济低迷影响,印度许多计划内军改措施不得不推迟。

Third, India has to postpone many planned military reform measures due to COVID-19 and economic slowdown

作为全球最大武器进口国,印度面临整合多元复杂武器装备的难题。为摆脱对外国武器装备的过度依赖,实现所谓“国防自主”,印度曾对数百种武器颁布进口禁令,但未取得明显效果。

As the world’s largest weapon importer, India faces the headache of integrating its various complicated weapons and equipment. To shake off its over-reliance on foreign weaponry and achieve the so-called “defense independence”, New Delhi once issued a ban on the import of hundreds types of weapons, but that didn’t seem to take much effect.

印度新一轮军改始于2019年。需要指出的是,印度本轮军改建立在莫迪及其所在人民党的强势推动下,许多改革措施的时间节点都设定在莫迪第二任期结束前。考虑到印度推动国内改革步伐缓慢,此轮军改是否依然“雷声大雨点小”,仍需继续观察。

India’s new round of military reform began in 2019 and has been strongly pushed by Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with many measures scheduled within Modi’s second term. Considering how slow the country has been in promoting its domestic reform, whether the new round of military reform will be another case of “much cry and little wool” is still to be seen.

(作者单位:空军工程大学、西安交通大学)

(The authors are from the Air Force Engineering University of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Xi’an Jiaotong University)