Defence Ministry approves defence procurement worth Rs 13,700 crore

New Delhi, Feb 24: Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), under the chairmanship of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, has approved capital acquisition proposals worth Rs 13,700 crore, including 118 Arjun Mk-1A tanks for over Rs 8,000 crore.

 

 

All these acquisition proposals of various weapons, equipment and systems required by the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force will be indigenously designed, developed and manufactured, the Defence Ministry said. These will include inter-alia platforms and systems designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

 

 

The DAC also accorded three Acceptance of Necessities (AoNs) for an overall cost of Rs 13,700 crore, the Defence Ministry said. It added that all these AoNs are in the highest priority category of defence acquisition — 'Buy Indian - Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured (IDDM)'.

 

"To meet the Atmanirbhar Bharat goals of the Government on time-bound defence procurement process and faster decision making and to systematically work towards reducing the time taken for capital acquisition, the DAC also approved that all capital acquisition contracts (delegated and non-delegated) other than D&D cases shall be concluded in two years," the Defence Ministry said.

 

It should be noted that earlier this month PM Narendra Modi handed over to the Army the home-made Arjun Main Battle Tank (MK-1A) in Chennai. The tank has been indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Arjun Mk-1A is an upgraded version of the Arjun Mk-1 tank currently in service.

 

 

And, recently, Pune-based Indian multinational company Bharat Forge limited has received an order worth Rs 177.95 crore from the Defence Ministry for the supply of Kalyani M4 vehicles.