With the objective to enhance the firepower and fighting capabilities of soldiers guarding the borders and engaged in counter-insurgency operations, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Wednesday approved procurement of 3.5 lakh carbines and 41,000 light machine guns (lMG). The total cost of these two contracts is Rs 7,607 crore. The DAC, the apex body for clearing acquisitions and chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also gave nod for buying radio relay systems for the Army and IAF and two pollution control vessels for the Coast Guard. The total amount for the four contracts is worth over Rs 9,435 crore.
Giving details of the lMG and carbine projects, officials said after the meeting these weapons will be procured through the ‘Make in India’ route. These weapons are an essential component of a soldier’s fighting equipment and will provide a major filip to the fighting capability of the troops.
Out of total quantities envisaged, 75 per cent will be through Indian Industry under ‘Buy & Make (Indian)’ category and balance through Ordnance Factory Board(OFB). The earmarked quantity for the OFB has been kept to optimally utilise their infrastructure and capacity, as well as provide a window for assimilation of critical technologies towards building indigenous capability in small arms manufacturing. The total cost for procurement of carbines to replace the AK-47s and lMGs for the soldiers of the three Services is Rs 4,607 crore and Rs 3,000 crore respectively.
The vintage of personal weapons, assault rifles carbines and lMGs used by the troops especially those deployed on the borders and in areas affected by militancy was a cause of concern for over a decade. The government was conscious of the requirement to modernise basic fighting weapons for the soldiers and has therefore accorded utmost priority to these cases.
With the approval of these two proposals, the government has cleared procurement of the entire range of personal weapons for the three Services. Of these, immediate operational requirement for the soldiers deployed on the borders will be procured through Fast Track Procurement and for the balance production lines will be set up in India, they said.
This decision comes nearly two weeks after DAC approved a major proposal for acquiring more than seven lakh assault rifles, 5,700 sniper rifles and nearly 17,000 light machine guns(lMG). The total cost of these deals was more than Rs 15,000 crore.
The assault rifles will be ‘Made in India’ under the categorisation of ‘Buy and Make (Indian),’ through both Ordnance Factory Board(OFB) and private Industry at an estimated cost of Rs 12,280 crore.
Incidentally, the DAC in January approved the procurement of nearly 72,400 assault rifles and 93,985 carbines on a fast track basis to meet the urgent operational requirements of the troops. The total cost of these two deals is Rs 3,547 crores and the two variety of weapons will be procured directly from the selected foreign vendor.
The DAC, meanwhile on Wednesday, also gave the green signal for procurement of essential quantity of High Capacity Radio Relay (HCRR) for the Indian Army and Indian Air Force under Buy (Indian) categorisation at an estimated cost of over Rs 1,092 crore.
These state-of-the-art Radio Relays will provide the Services with fail-safe and reliable communication along with increased bandwidth in the Tactical Battle Area.
To enhance the ability of the Coast Guard to rapidly undertake pollution control measures off the East Coast and Island Territories, the DAC cleared the proposal for acquisition of two pollution control vessels. These ships will be built by Indian shipyards at an approximate cost of Rs 673 crore. These ships in addition to carrying out pollution control will also be capable of undertaking patrolling, search and rescue and limited salvage and fire fighting operations at sea.