The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Friday gave a nod for nine capital acquisition proposals worth ₹45,000 crore, including for 12 Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft with associated equipment from state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at a cost of ₹11,000 crore.
All these procurements will be made from Indian vendors under Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDMM) and Buy (Indian) category which will give substantial boost to the indigenous defence industry towards achieving the goal of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat,’ the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
Indigenisation
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh directed the DAC during the Friday’s meeting that it is time to scale up ambitions towards indigenisation, as per the Ministry of Defence.
“Rather than a threshold of 50 per cent indigenous content for IDDM projects, we should aim for a minimum 60-65 per cent indigenous content,” Rajnath Singh was quoted has having said. The Minister directed the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs, Defence Secretary and DG (Acquisition) to work towards increasing the minimum indigenous content threshold in consultation with the Indian industry.
To enhance protection, mobility, attack capability and increased survivability of mechanised forces, the DAC also gave acceptance of necessity for procurement of light armoured multipurpose vehicles (LAMV) and integrated surveillance and targeting system (ISAT-S), high mobility vehicle (HMV) gun towing vehicles for swift mobilisation and deployment of artillery guns and radars.
Next-gen vessels
“The DAC also approved procurement of next generation survey vessels for the Indian Navy which will greatly enhance its capabilities in performing hydrographic operations,” the Ministry statement read.
The 12 Su-30 MKIs cleared by the DAC will fill the void in the Indian Air Force fleet that happened due to crashes of such multi-role fighter jets over the years. An additional order would help IAF bridge the gap between the existing and desired combat squadron strength in the shortest possible time and at minimum cost, HAL sources said on the DAC’s announcement.
Navratna PSU HAL has successfully integrated Astra missile, BrahMos Missile, New Generation Anti-Radiation Missile (NGARM), guided bombs, ACMI pod, among others, to make Su-30 MKI a much more lethal aircraft, sources pointed. Currently, HAL is undertaking series modification of aircraft for integration of BrahMos. So far HAL has produced 222 Sukhois under licence from Russia and undertook overhaul of 100 jets so far at its Nashik facility.
For further enhancing the Indian Air Force capability, the DAC also gave a go- ahead for proposals for avionic upgradation of Dornier aircraft to improve the accuracy and reliability for operations. The procurement of Dhruvastra Short Range Air-to-Surface Missile as a potent Indigenous Precision Guided Weapon for indigenously built ALH Mk-IV Helicopters has been cleared by the DAC, informed the MoD.