New Delhi: Defence Acquisition Council ( DAC) in its meeting held today accorded approval for Capital acquisitions of various platforms and equipment required by the Indian Armed Forces. Proposals for an approximate cost of 38900 Crore rupees were approved. The meet chaired by Defence minister Rajnath Singh Focused on indigenous design and development. These approvals include acquisitions from Indian Industry amounting to 31130 Crore rupees.
The equipment is to be manufactured in India involving the Indian Defence Industry with the participation of several MSMEs as prime-tier vendors. The Indigenous content in some of these projects is up to 80 percent of the project cost. A large number of these projects have been made possible due to the Transfer of Technology by DRDO to the Indigenous Industry. These include Pinaka ammunitions, BMP armament upgrades, and Software Defined Radios for the Army, Long Range Land Attack Cruise Missile Systems, and Astra Missiles for Navy and Air Force. The cost of these Design and Development proposals is in the range of 20400 crore rupees.
Acquisition of new and additional missile systems will add to the fire power of three Services. While acquisition of Pinaka missile systems will enable raising additional regiments over and above the ones already inducted, addition of Long Range Land Attack Missile Systems having a firing range of 1000 Km to the existing arsenal will bolster the attack capabilities of the Navy and the Air Force. Our correspondent reports, induction of Astra Missiles having Beyond Visual Range capability will serve as a force multiplier and immensely add to the strike capability of Navy and Air Force.
Further, addressing the long-felt need of the Indian Air Force to increase its fighter squadrons, the DAC also approved the proposal for procurement of 21 MIG-29 . It also approved the up-gradation of the existing 59 Mig-29 aircraft and the procurement of 12 Su-30 MKI aircraft.
