The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday approved procurement of Rs 3,300 crore worth of indigenously designed and developed equipment including anti-tank guided missiles(ATGM). The DAC is the apex body to give the nod for acquisitions by the armed forces.
Giving details of the decisions taken on Monday, officials later said maintaining its impetus on the 'Make in India' initiative, the DAC accorded approval for three projects to be indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by the Indian industry.
The first two projects include third generation ATGM and the Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) for the T-72 and T-90 Tanks. While the third generation ATGM would provide 'Fire and Forget' and "Top Attack" capabilities to the troops in an armoured battle, the APUs would enable incorporation of various upgrades to Fire Control System and Night Fighting capabilities of the Tanks.
Both these projects will be progressed under the 'Make-II' Category and will provide a boost to indigenous research and development in the private sector. With this, for the first time the Defence Ministry has offered complex military equipment to be designed, developed and manufactured by the Indian private industry.
The third indigenous project pertains to discrete Electronic Warfare (EW) systems for the mountain and High Altitude terrain, which would be designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)and manufactured by design cum production partner from the Indian industry.