February 13,2018:
Indian Armed Forces has been given by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded to approval to Capital Acquisition Proposals of the services valued at approximately Rs 15,935 crore.
DAC chaired by the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, DAC approved procurement of the essential quantity of light machine guns for the three services through the Fast Track Procedure at an estimated cost of over Rs 1,819 crore. This procurement will meet the operational requirement of the troops deployed on the borders.
Concurrent proposal is being processed for the balance quantity to be procured under the ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ categorisation.
DAC has also cleared a proposal to procure 7.4 lakh assault rifles for three services. These rifles will be ‘Made in India’ under the categorisation of ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’, through both Ordnance Factory Board and Private Industry at an estimated cost of Rs 12,280 crore.
In a bid to equip the soldiers on border with the modern and more effective equipment, DAC has fast tracked procurement of the three main personal weapons, i.e., rifles, carbines and light machine guns in the last one month.
DAC also approved procurement of 5,719 sniper rifles for the Indian Army and Indian Air Force at an estimated cost of Rs 982 crore.
While these high precision weapons will be bought with ‘Buy Global’ categorisation, the ammunition for these will be initially procured and subsequently manufactured in India.
To enhance Anti-Submarine Warfare capabilities of Indian Naval Ships, DAC has accorded approval for procurement of the Advanced Torpedo Decoy Systems (ATDS) for Indian Navy.
‘Mareech’ System has been developed indigenously by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and has successfully completed extensive trial evaluations.
‘Mareech’ systems will be produced by the Bharat Electronics Limited in Bengaluru at an estimated cost of Rs 850 Crore.
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