After having lost ammunition worth several hundred crore over the past years in various accidents, the Army has drawn up plans to upgrade the security and fire fighting infrastructure at 16 major ammunition depots across the country.
In an incident of major fire in the storage shed, containing over 130 tones of anti-tank mines and ammunition at central ammunition depot, Pulgaon on 31 May 2016, not only 19 defence personnel, including two senior army officers were killed and 17 military personnel injured, it also resulted in a huge loss of property to the Government. This exposed the chinks in the security aspects of the army ammunition depots. In past since last 25 years there were approx 20 such serious fire incidents at various ammunition depots in India.
“Increased security threats and recent incidents of fire in ammunition depots warrant an immediate upgradation of the existing archaic security and fire fighting infrastructure currently found in all the ammunition installations of Ordnance,” states an expression of interest (EOI) issued in April 2022 by the Directorate General of Ordnance Services seeking project management consultancy from suitable agencies.
“There is a need to acquire force multipliers in terms of modern security and fire fighting systems, which would incorporate modern methods of ensuring security and fire fighting and will be potent to ward off any threat,” the EOI adds.
The Army has 16 major ammunition depots, with the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) at Pulgaon in Maharashtra that comes directly under the command of Army Headquarters, being the mother depot. CAD receives all ammunition from indigenous and foreign sources and then issues it to 15 Field Ammunition Depots (FADs) which sustain fighting formations within the geographical area of supply allotted to them.
These depots hold all kind of bullets, grenades, bombs, shells, mines, rockets and missiles used by the army. Some of the Air Force’s ammunition storage facilities are also co-located with these depots.
Given the explosive nature of stores that they hold, ammunition depots are located and designed as per specific technical norms to ensure security and safety of the establishment, manpower deployed therein as well as the surrounding areas. The locations depend upon the operational and logistic considerations.
The security and fire fighting infrastructure include securing the perimeter and controlling access into the depot by means of armed guards, walls or fences, watch towers and CCTV cameras, technical officers, explosives inspection and disposal experts, keeping the premises clear of vegetation and wild growth, automatic fire detection and sprinkler systems, specialist fire fighting vehicles and equipment, safety lanes and static water tanks.
Every depot has an emergency plan and standard operating procedures in place to deal with any accident, explosion or fire. Technical officers and explosives experts are also required to inspect and audit the stores as well as handling storage procedures periodically to identify life expired or defective ammunition that can trigger an accident.
Over the past two decades, there have been several instances of fire breaking out in some ammunition depots, not only destroying a large quantity of ammunition and explosives, but also resulting in the loss of human lives.
After a massive fire at the Ammunition Depot, Bharatpur in 2000, the Army had embarked upon a major security and safety modernisation project plan to improve the storage infrastructure at all its depots. This included new design for ammunition sheds, converting temporary shelters into permanent buildings, better packing and stacking facilities and a review of the safety standards and procedures.
The new modernisation project being planned will require a fresh look at the regulations of the Ministry of Defence’s Storage and Transport of Explosive Committee, which are ratified by Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), redesigning buildings and storage structures, state-of-the art inspection and testing facilities, automation, installation of contemporary warning and fire fighting systems.
Army Ordnance Services Role
The serviceable ammunition logistic and operations costs comprise up to 70-80% of a systems life-cycle cost. Managing ammunition stockpile involves proper storage as per holding capacity, turnover, inspection and timely disposal and if not adhered to will increase the risk of accidental explosion, fires etc. The ammunition deterioration during storage has considerable economic as well as catastrophic consequences. The ageing ammunition assets can turn in to liability in case not properly cared.
Ordnance Corp is responsible for provision, receipt, storage, issue and disposal of all Ordnance stores including ammunition and explosives, both in peace and field areas throughout the country. The Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) functions directly under Army HQ and acts as a mother depot and holds strategic reserves. The ammunition is received ex-Import/ factories in this depot and thereafter dispatched to other stocking echelons based on the releases made by Army HQ.
Operational commitments necessitates, that certain scale known as First Line ammunition (on weapon and unit reserve) is kept with the troops deployed on active operational duty. Most of this ammunition is loosely packaged and frequently moved. The Forward Ammunition Depots (FAD)/Ammunition Company/Division Ordnance Units near the borders hold ammunition which is required for training and in case of engagement with enemy. The other scales known as Second Line and General Staff reserve stock ammunition are held in various depots in varying quantity depending upon their location.
The Second Line Ammunition and various reserves which are required in case of prolonged engagements with enemy and training ammunition are kept at Central Ammunition Depots away from the border.
Ammunition has certain unique characteristics that necessitate quality and reliability evaluation during design, production and storage life. All ammunition has an assigned shelf life which depends on its design and chemistry of propellants/explosives used. These are high energy materials thus inherently unstable and prone to deterioration / decomposition even under normal storage conditions. The designed shelf life is given as per the life of the subsystem which has the lowest shelf life under normal conditions of storage.
Some basic issues specific to ammunition are:
Ammunition contains high-energy material and is designed to be as lethal as possible during its use and as safe as any other equipment during its use and handling.
It is designed for optimum performance and manufactured under controlled conditions.
The system mostly comprises of a combination of electronic, mechanical, chemical or structural sub systems, which cannot be fully tested in the integrated forms without partial or full destruction.
The functioning of ammunition consists of irreversible reactions or a process. There is need for testing even the sub-systems independently before integration.
The ammunition deterioration during storage has considerable economic as well as catastrophic consequences. The ageing ammunition assets can turn in to liability in case not properly cared. Hence, the exceptions during each stage must be predicted, detected, identified, and mitigated to prevent unacceptable risk involving safety and performance.
The ammunition ideally should be utilized within the specified shelf life. Beyond this, deterioration in explosives is bound to take place, not only due to inherent property of the explosive but also due to storage conditions. The performance of the explosives in the ammunition cannot be predicted beyond the shelf life. The turnover policy has been formulated for this purpose. The periodic tests/proof during shelf life and thereafter are necessary to assess continued serviceability /safety. The responsibility for proper storage, maintenance and serviceability periodic checks during its shelf life cycle rests with the DGOS. Ammunition Maintenance Instructions and Proof Test Guide have been issued for this purpose.
The serviceability, safety and expected life of ammunitions is assessed through chemical, physical, stability, life assessment and safety test of the explosive components of ammunitions during various phases of evaluation. Depot proof is carried out to assess the balance shelf life of the subject ammunition and to assess whether the store is still in a serviceable state. Shelf life is extended beyond the assigned shelf life if the performance in proof is satisfactory and chemicals are still in stable condition.
A lot of ammunition is stored underground or in box-like structures called igloos in NATO countries. In India the ammunition is stored mainly in three ways i.e., in magazine, in covered warehouses and in open plinths covered only by tarpaulin sheets. The CAG had pointed out in its report in 2002 that about 60 per cent of Indian army ammunition lacked proper storage and were kept in the open.
