On February 23, 2021, The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister Rajnath singh approved 3 Acceptance of Necessities (AoNs) worth INR 13, 700 Crore for procurement of various weapons/platforms/equipment/systems for the Indian Army, Indian Navy & Indian Air Force.
- All 3 AoNs have been placed under the ‘Buy [Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)]’ Category of India’s new Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.
- All equipment, systems, weapons & platforms to be procured will be indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Components cleared by DAC
i.Out of INR 13, 700 Crore, (~) INR 8, 300 Crore will be sent for procuring 118 indigenously developed Arjun Main Battle Tank (MK-1A) placed order with OFB.
- The new tank will come with 71 upgrades over the existing variant including 14 major improvements.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over a prototype of the Arjun Mk-1A tank to army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane in Chennai on February 14 2021 .
- The Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Chennai-based Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) has designed and developed the tank. The tanks will be manufactured at the OFB’s Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi, Chennai.
- The Arjun Mk-1A Tanks are upgraded versions of the Arjun Mk-1 which is currently in service in the Indian Army.
ii.The proposals cleared by the DAC include 293 Nag anti-tank missiles developed by DRDO, 13 modified ICVs (called the Nag missile carrier or Namica), eight medium power radars called Arudra and practice ammunition for T-90 and T-72 tanks
iii.Separately, Bharat Forge announced that it has received a ₹117.95-crore order from the Defence Ministry to supply its Kalyani M4 Kalyani M4 armored vehicles to the Army under the emergency procurement route.
INR 70, 000 Crore to be set aside for domestic procurements
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stated that 63% of the Defence outlay for the year 2021-22 will be set aside for Domestic Procurements (INR 70, 000 Crore out of INR 1.35 Lakh Crore allocated in Defence budget.
- Government is also preparing a second negative list of Defence items which is expected to be released in March, 2021.
- Negative list is a set of products/systems which cannot be imported from Foreign Countries & should be procured only from Domestic Manufacturers.
- In August 2020, the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh restricted the import of 101 defence items.
- Rajnath Singh also stated that the deal for Light Combat Helicopters is expected to be signed shortly & the deal for Light Utility Helicopters is expected to be completed by August, 2022.
Recent Related News:
i.On December 17, 2020, DAC meeting under the Chairmanship of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved 7 Capital Acquisition proposals regarding military hardware worth Rs. 28,000 Crore.
ii.On September 28, 2020, the DAC under the Chairmanship of Rajnath Singh in New Delhi Released and approved the Final document of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)- 2020.
About Ministry of Defence:
Union Minister – Rajnath Singh (Lok Sabha MP, Constituency – Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh)
Minister of State (MoS)– Shripad Yesso Naik (Lok Sabha MP, Constituency – North Goa)
