Indian Army invites domestic defence firms to offer critical defence equipment

New Delhi, Sept 19: With an aim to enhance the procurement of indigenous weapons, the Indian Army has issued multiple tenders to buy guns, missiles, drones and many other systems from domestic defence industry for meeting critical requirements under emergency procurement procedures.

 

 

The Indian Army, in a series of tweets, said, "In keeping with its commitment to fight the future wars with Indigenous Solutions, #IndianArmy invites Indian Defence Industry to offer critical defence equipment for Emergency Procurement."

 

 

The process will be based on compressed timelines, wherein the procurement window will be open to Indian Industry for six months and the industry would be expected to deliver equipment within one year of signing the contract. Procurement cases will be based on Open Tender Enquiry, the force said.

 

It also added that Proposals are being fielded for Guns, Missiles, Drones, Counter Drone, Loiter Munition, Communication & Optical systems, specialist Vehicles, Engineering Equipment & Alternate Energy Resources. Under emergency procurement powers, the armed forces can buy equipment worth Rs 300 crores under capital procurement cases and Rs 500 crores under revenue procurement cases.

 

 

The clearance for making these procurements was accorded to the three services in the last defence acquisition council held by the Narendra Modi government. The forces have been granted these powers for a six months window where they can buy any weapon system of their choice produced under the Make in India route.

 

However, earlier the services had the freedom to do deals with foreign vendors also directly and multiple contracts were signed post-May 2020 in which Heron drones, Spike anti-tank guided missiles and many other critical requirements of the forces were fulfilled.