Defence minister: 60,000 vacancies in armed forces; Navy, Army, Air Force

New Delhi, Dec 28: Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman provided details of shortage in armed forces in Lok sabha.

According to the details, armed forces are facing a shortage of nearly 60,000 personnel with the army topping the list with over 27,000 vacant posts.

The total shortage of officers in the Indian Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force is 9,259 while the number for below officer rank is 50,363.

She said the total strength of the army as on July 1 is 12.37 lakh personnel against the authorised strength of 12.64 lakh and the total shortage is 27,864.

The current strength of the navy is 67,228 personnel and the number of vacant positions is 16,255.

She said the Indian Air Force is facing a shortage of 15,503 personnel against the authorised strength of 1.55 lakh.