With the objective of giving a boost to the local defence industry, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday cleared procurement proposals worth over Rs 28,000 crore. The items include airborne radars, offshore patrol vessels and modular bridges.
The deals were given the go-ahead in the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by the Defence Minister. The armed force will have to procure items worth over Rs 27,00 crore of the total amount from the Indian industry, officials said here.
They said the apex body, responsible for giving the nod for the deals, approved capital acquisition proposals of various weapons, platforms, equipment and systems required by the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force at an approximate overall cost of Rs 28,000 crore.
The major procurements include the Defence Research and Development Organisation Organisation (DRDO) designed and developed Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) Systems for the IAF, next generation offshore patrol vessels for the Indian Navy and modular bridges for the Indian Army.
The IAF plans to induct at least six AEWC systems. They will be mounted on planes acquired from Air India. Expected to cost more than Rs 10,000 crores, these modified planes will enable the IAF to look deep into Pakistan and China while flying in its own airspace.
The ultra modern radars will enable the Services to have latest and real time information about any hostile movement. The radars will have the 360 degrees capability for surveillance.
At present, the IAF has four Israeli manufactured Phalcon AWACS. The electronic systems of these AWACS are fitted on Russian made IL-76 planes. These airborne radars can remain in the air for more than 10 hours and pick up any movement in Pakistan up to a distance of more than 400 km.
The Defence Ministry in a tweet also said out of the total amount Rs 25,000 crore were approved under the indigenous design and development.
Officials also said this was the first meeting of the DAC under the new regime of Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 and these are the first set of Acceptance of Necessity (AoNs) accorded with majority AoNs being accorded in the highest categorisation of Buy Indian (IDDM). Six of seven proposals, that is, Rs 27,000 crore out of Rs 28,000 crore for which AoNs were granted will be sourced from the Indian industry to give a boost to the “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiatives.
The latest decision to go in for Indian products comes months after the Defence Ministry listed nearly 100 items which will now be manufactured by the local industry. Earlier, the forces were importing these items.