Giving a big boost to indigenous Defence manufacturing, the Government on Monday gave the nod for procurement of military equipment worth Rs 76,390 crore from domestic industries. These systems include ships, weapon locating radars, aircraft and aero-engines.
The approval for the platforms and weapons was given here by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The DAC is the apex body for scrutinizing and clearing the proposed acquisitions for the three armed forces.
Giving details of the DAC decisions, officials said here for the Indian Navy, procurement of next generation corvettes (NGCs) at an estimated cost of around Rs 36,000 crore was given the go-ahead.
These NGCs will be versatile platforms for variety of roles like surveillance missions, escort operations, deterrence, Surface Action Group (SAG) operations, search and attack and coastal defence.
These NGCs will be constructed based on new in-house design of Indian Navy using latest technology of ship building and will contribute to further the government’s initiative of Security and Growth for all in the Region(SAGAR).
The DAC also approved a proposal for the manufacture of Dornier aircraft and Su-30 MKI aero-engines by the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The focus is on enhancing indigenisation particularly in indigenising aero-engine material. For the Indian Army, the DAC accorded a fresh approval for the procurement of Rough Terrain Fork Lift Trucks (RTFLTs), Bridge Laying Tanks (BLTs), Wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicles (Wh AFVs) with Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs) and Weapon Locating Radars (WLRs) through domestic sources, with an emphasis on indigenous design and development, they said.
Moreover, in an effort to speed up digital transformation in defence,'Digital Coast Guard' project under 'Buy' (Indian) category was approved by the DAC.
Under this project, a pan-India secure network for digitising of various surface and aviation operations, logistics, finance and human resource processes in the Coast Guard will be established, the ministry said. The latest decision comes after the government banned import of more than 300 items in the last two years. The armed forces are now directed to procure weapons and related systems from Indian industry.
The banned items were identified after due consultations with all the stakeholders including the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Department of Defence Production (DDP), Service Headquarters (SHQs) and the private industry.
The focus is on rapid indigenization of light weight tanks, naval utility helicopters, artillery guns, missiles, loitering munitions, missile destroyers and ship-borne cruise missiles. The list also includes light combat aircraft, light transport aircraft, long-range land-attack cruise missiles, basic trainer aircraft, multi-barrel rocket launchers, assault rifles, sniper rifles, specified types of helicopters, and airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) systems.
The ministry recently said the import embargo indicated that the government is confident about the Indian industry capabilities of manufacturing world class and sophisticated weapon systems for the armed forces.