On December 22, 2022, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for 24 Capital Acquisition Proposals worth Rs 84,328 crores during the DAC meeting chaired by Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Ministry of Defence.
- The proposals include 6 for Indian Army (IA), 6 for Indian Air Force (IAF), 10 for Indian Navy (IN) and 2 for Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
Key Points:
i.Out of 24 proposals, 21 proposals worth Rs 82,127 crore (97.4%)will be procured from indigenous sources.
ii.With this AoN, IA will get new military hardware, including light tanks, futuristic infantry combat vehicles (FICVs), mounted gun systems, missiles, bombs, and ballistic helmets, with enhanced protection level.
- The light tanks and mounted gun system are set to be deployed in high-altitude forward areas including along the LAC (Line of Actual Control).
iii.IN will get naval anti-ship missiles, multi-purpose vessels and high endurance autonomous vehicles to further enhance maritime strength.
iv.IAF will be further strengthened with enhanced lethal capabilities by induction of new range of missile systems, long range guided bombs, range augmentation kit for conventional bombs and advanced surveillance systems.
v.The next generation offshore patrol vessels will be procured for ICG to enhance surveillance capability in the coastal areas .
The above procurements will not only modernize the armed forces but also provide substantial boost to the defence industry to achieve the goal of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
Points to be noted:
i.India imposed a phased import ban on 411 different weapons and systems during the last two years to provide a boost to the indigenous defence manufacturing sector.
ii.The Central government has earmarked Rs 84,598 crore, 68% of the military’s capital acquisition budget for 2022-23, for purchasing locally produced weapons and systems.
Recent Related News:
i.Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a Navaratna Defence Public Sector Undertaking(PSU) under the MoD, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Meslova Systems for cooperation in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) for Air Defence (AD) systems for the armed forces.
ii.As per the report by Statista infographic titled ‘The World’s Biggest Employers- Employers with the most personnel worldwide (2022 or latest available)’, India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) is the world’s biggest employer with 2.92 million people, which includes combined active service personnel, reservists and civilian staff.
About Ministry of Defence (MoD):
Union Minister– Rajnath Singh (Constituency- Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh)
Minister of State (MoS)– Ajay Bhatt (Constituency- Nainital, Udhamsingh Nagar, Uttarakhand)
