With an aim at reducing the risk of accidents by stray bullets during practice, Army will have 17 new baffle firing ranges across the country. A baffle firing range provides a secure firing range with a perimeter —series of walls—surrounding the target area.
In the recent past, several cases of accidents and injuries due to stray bullets have been reported from the civilian areas adjoining to Army training ranges.
The baffle reduces the area required for practice and operations and is considered to be the best solution for small arm training for Army.
"Ministry of Defence has given a 'go ahead' sanction for construction of 17 new baffle firing ranges in Military Stations/Cantonments/Training Establishments at an approximate cost of Rs 2,38 crore," the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Out of 17, seven ranges will be in the jurisdiction of the Southern Command, three will go to the Eastern Command, two to the Northern Command and one each to the South Western and Central Commands. A similar one under Central Command is proposed at the Officers Training Academy, Gaya.
The ministry claims that these 17 will be in addition to the 60 similar firing ranges existing in the country.
The proposed baffle shooting ranges can facilitate firing from 300 to 500 meters.
"Baffle firing ranges are covered shooting practice areas which prevent possible accidents due to stray bullet injuries. The possibility of such mishap has increased many folds in recent times due to growth of civilian population around the cantonments," a ministry official said.
The official claims that the availability of land for training has been a major issue for armed forces and a baffle firing range provides a solution to it as it can be built on a two hectares of land. Army sources said that the baffle walls of 9-metre high and 6.9-metre wide are made of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and two metre of the walls are covered with slurry infiltrated fibrous concrete (SIFCON) at the bottom. A fiber concrete panel of 22 metre is made to trap bullets, and allows six fires at a time.
The Army has 51 field firing ranges but only 12 are completely owned by the Army while the rest are on lease and controlled by the state government.