The defence ministry has cleared indigenous weapons programmes worth over Rs 13,700 crore, including acquisition of a modernised version of Arjun battle tanks and increasing protection levels for over 3,000 armoured fighting vehicles currently in service.
The Defence Acquisition Council has also decided that all capital acquisition contracts, other than design and development projects, must be completed in two years, addressing a major demand of the industry that has been handicapped by the procurement processes which sometimes take up to 7 years to conclude.
“The ministry, in consultation with the services and all stakeholders, will come up with detailed plan of action for achieving the same,” a defence ministry spokesperson said in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Among the projects cleared are acquisition of Arjun Mk1A tanks from the Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi. DAC has cleared acquisition of 118 tanks for Rs 8,380 crore. formal orders are likely to be placed later this year. This will add to the 124 Arjun Mk1 tanks ordered by the Army.
“Three Acceptance of Necessities for an overall cost of Rs 13,700 crore were accorded. All AoNs are in the highest priority category of defence acquisition — Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured,” the spokesperson said.
In addition, DAC has cleared a proposal to upgrade protection levels of over 3,000 armoured fighting vehicles, including main battle tanks and infantry combat vehicles. The plan is to increase operational efficiency by adding counter measure systems and early warning systems to the fleet. Other projects that have been given a go ahead include Namica anti-tank system that will be armed with indigenous Nag missiles and six Arudhra medium power radars.
ET
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