National Defence Academy: A shining jewel among military training institutions

A shining jewel among the military training institutions in the world, the National Defence Academy has always striven to provide the best defence training to our budding military officers.

Computer-aided defence systems and warfare is the inevitable reality of our times. And playing its role to prepare India for this future is the prestigious National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakwasla, Pune.

The NDA has an illustrious history as the world's first defence training institution to impart combined training to officer cadets of the Army, Navy and the Air Force. 

Inaugurated 56 years ago, on January 16, 1955, the NDA has evolved continuously, keeping pace with time and grooming contemporary warrior officers for the nation. Consider this: In the early years, 70.4% of the training periods were devoted to academics, 8% for physical training, 7.7% to special service subjects and 5.7% to combined service subjects and weapons training.

In order to align with the 10+2+3 educational system prevalent in the country, the academy sought affiliation with the Jawaharlal Nehru University, (JNU), New Delhi, and the first NDA course to be awarded bachelors degrees was the 46th course in 1974.

Today, the NDA gives its alumni, BA, BSc and BSc (computers) degrees and the revised syllabus has 61% lecture devoted to academics, 15% for the foundation course, 8% for service specialist subjects and 16% for outdoor training ( physical training, drill, swimming and horse riding).

The NDA's alertness and agility stands exemplified by the manner in which it has embraced the IT revolution. Presently, all cadets, irrespective of their academic streams, need to be trained in IT skills such as database management, networking, multimedia and office automation.

Recently, the academy spent Rs10 crore in installing a campus area network (CAN) and to provide each of the 2,000 cadets with Thin Client computer notebooks. Cadets are now connected to their teachers and classrooms 24x7. The IT transformation has also seen the establishment of a new data centre and upgraded servers.  Every classroom has its own computer and an LCD projector.

Cutting-edge training is also evident in the constant modernisation of the army, navy and air force training units. The Army Training Team (ATT), for instance, provides cadets with the modern, INSAS 5.56 rifles in the first term itself. Drona firing simulators have also been made available to the cadets.

The duration of Camp Torna, the rough-and-tough field training at the foothills of the Torna and Rajgarh forts for sixth termers, has also been increased from eight to ten days with heavy emphasis on night training. Ambush and patrolling exercises have been enhanced to provide all cadets with a feel of basic field operations.

The camp includes the attack operation of war and a capsule on counter-insurgency. Extensive training is imparted in the use of radio equipment and the final endurance-cum-navigation exercise culminates in the obstacle course and firing on the range.

The scenario is identical in the Air Force Training Team (AFTT) where the towed gliders of yesteryears have been replaced by the motorised, Super Dimona HK36TC powered gliders. This has brought about a paradigm shift in the flying training process and has greatly enhanced the confidence and flying skills of the NDA alumni.

AFTT's ground training includes classroom lectures on aviation and technical subjects like aerodynamics, navigation, meteorology, aero-engines, and air frames. The flying training comprises 10 sorties of seven-and-a- half hours of flying for each cadet on the Super Dimona power glider. The AFTT is also equipped with a PC-based flying training simulator which gives the cadets a feel of flying on an aircraft before commencement of flying.

The Naval Training Team (NTT) has the largest holding of boats in the country to impart waterman ship training. This includes a high speed boat; four, 420 class boats; parasail and soon-to-be-acquired five, wind surf boats and a new floating jetty.

Naval cadets are taught to be proficient in navigation, seamanship and communication. Training has also begun in the Koden navigational radar, navigation trainer and electronic chart system and simulator. A mini-planetarium called the Tara Mandal has been added.

The NDA aims at providing a strong foundation for a career in the Indian military services. On successful completion of the three-year course, cadets are awarded a university degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

They then proceed to attend the specific training establishments of the services- Army cadets go to the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehra Dun; Air Force cadets to the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad and the Naval cadets to different training ships. Navy has the least number of vacancies (about 40) followed by Air Force (about 50), while the rest of the 300-odd seats are for the Army.