DAC approves proposals worth Rs 45,000 crore for armed forces

New Delhi: The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Friday accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for nine capital acquisition proposals of approx Rs 45,000 crore, the Defence Ministry said.

The AoN for procurement of 12 Su-30 MKI aircraft with associated equipment from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was also accorded, official added.

According to the Defence Ministry, to enhance protection, mobility, attack capability and increased survivability of mechanised forces, the DAC accorded AoN for procurement of Light Armoured Multipurpose Vehicles (LAMV) and Integrated Surveillance and Targeting System (ISAT-S).

It also cleared AoN for procurement of High Mobility Vehicle (HMV) and Gun Towing Vehicles for swift mobilisation and deployment of artillery guns and radars.

The DAC also approved procurement of Next Generation Survey Vessels for the Indian Navy which will greatly enhance its capabilities in performing hydrographic operations, a ministry official added.

All these procurements will be made from Indian vendors under Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDMM)/Buy (Indian) category which will give substantial boost to the Indian defence Industry towards achieving the goal of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', the official added.

The DAC also accorded AoN for proposals of the Indian Air Force which included 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.

During the meeting, Rajnath Singh stated that it is time to upgrade the ambitions towards indigenisation. "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," he said.

He directed the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs, Defence Secretary and the DG, Acquisition, to work towards increasing the minimum indigenous content threshold in consultation with the Indian Industry, the official added.