Defence Acquisition Council approves 9 proposals value Rs 45,000 crore for procurement from Indian distributors

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for 9 capital acquisition proposals of approx. Rs 45,000 crore on September 15. The approval was granted in a gathering of the DAC held underneath the chairmanship of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh. All these procurements shall be made out of Indian distributors underneath Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDMM)/Buy (Indian) class.

This will give a considerable enhance to the Indian defence Industry in the direction of reaching the aim of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, mentioned an announcement issued by the defence ministry.

The DAC has accorded the AoN for the procurement of Light Armoured Multipurpose Vehicles (LAMV) and Integrated Surveillance and Targeting System (ISAT-S). This will assist in enhancing safety, mobility, assault functionality and elevated survivability of Mechanised Forces.

Another AoN was cleared by the Council for procurement of High Mobility Vehicle (HMV) Gun Towing Vehicles for swift mobilisation and deployment of Artillery Guns and Radars.

The DAC additionally authorized the procurement of Next Generation Survey Vessels for the Indian Navy which can vastly improve its capabilities in performing Hydrographic Operations.

The DAC additionally accorded AoN for proposals of the Indian Air Force which included the Avionic upgradation of Dornier Aircraft to enhance the accuracy and reliability of operations. Apart from this, procurement of Dhruvastra Short Range Air-to-Surface Missile as a potent Indigenous Precision Guided Weapon for indigenously constructed ALH Mk-IV Helicopters has additionally been cleared by the DAC.

The AoN for the procurement of 12 Su-30 MKI Aircraft with related gear from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was additionally accorded. It is notable that HAL manufactures the Su-30 MKI plane in India underneath licence from Sukhoi, and it’s the predominant fighter airplane of the IAF at current.

During the assembly, Rajnath Singh said that it’s time to improve the ambitions in the direction of indigenisation. “Rather than a threshold of 50% indigenous content for IDDM projects, we should aim for a minimum 60-65% indigenous content,” he mentioned.

The defence minister directed the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs, Defence Secretary and DG (Acquisition) to work in the direction of rising the minimal indigenous content material threshold in session with the Indian Industry.