His another priority will be speeding up procurement of required equipment
Speeding up the procurement of weapon systems and modernisation will be the top priority of the new Government, new Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said here on Tuesday after assuming office.
He said modernisation had “slowed down” in the last few years and providing the required equipment which includes “speeding up the (procurement of) equipments are going to be priority areas as far as our Government is concerned.”
Jaitley did not elaborate but was apparently referring to the delay in acquisition of modern equipment for the armed forces such as the 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft(MMRCA), 197 light helicopters, artillery guns and some other acquisitions stuck up due to one reason or the other during his predecessor AK Antony’s regime.
Primarily holding the portfolios of Finance and Corporate Affairs with Defence Ministry as additional charge, Jaitley said the Defence Ministry is expected to get a full-time head in a “couple of weeks” after the expansion of the Council of Ministers.
Asked about the demand for raising the 26 per cent FDI cap in the Defence sector, Jaitley said it needs a deeper look. “This is an issue, which in both limbs, would be dealt by both my departments. It has already come up in my preliminary discussions on Tuesday and therefore I do not want to say anything more before I look deeply into the matter.”
He said 26 per cent FDI in Defence was introduced during Vajpayee Government and “these are areas which I am personally willing to examine.”
Defence Secretary RK Mathur and three Services Chiefs, meanwhile, briefed the new Minister about challenges and status of operational preparedness. Jaitley said “Defence Ministry is only an additional charge with me and till alternative arrangements are made, I will be spending a reasonable amount of time every day in the Ministry to clear both the backlog as also all new decisions which have to be taken.”