Defence Ministry approves modernization proposals worth Rs 76,390 cr.

New Delhi: The Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Monday approved modernization projects for armed forces amounting to Rs 76,390 crore under the Buy (Indian), Buy and Make (Indian) and Buy (Indian-IDDM) categories.
This will provide substantial boost to the Indian Defence Industry and reduce foreign spending significantly, the Defence Ministry said.
For the Indian Army, the DAC accorded fresh Acceptance of Necessity for procurement of Rough Terrain Fork Lift Trucks (RTFLTs), Bridge Laying Tanks (BLTs), Wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicles (Wh AFVs) with Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs) and Weapon Locating Radars (WLRs) through domestic sources with emphasis on indigenous design and development, the Ministry said.
For the Indian Navy, the DAC accorded AoN for procurement of Next Generation Corvettes (NGC) at an estimated cost of approximately Rs 36,000 crore.
These Next Generation Corvettes will be versatile platforms for variety of roles viz. surveillance missions, escort operations, deterrence, Surface Action Group (SAG) operations, Search and Attack and Coastal Defence, the Ministry added.
These NGCs would be constructed based on new in-house design of Indian Navy using latest technology of ship building and would contribute to further the government’s initiative of SAGAR (Security and Growth for all in the Region), the Ministry added.
The DAC also accorded AoNs for manufacture of Dornier Aircrafts and Su-30 MKI aero-engines by the Navratna CPSE M/s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited with focus on enhancing indigenisation particularly in indigenizing aero-engine material.
For digital transformation in Defence, the Digital Coast Guard project under the Buy (Indian) Category has been approved by the DAC. Under this project, a pan India secure network for digitizing of various surface and aviation operations, logistics, finance and HR processes in Coast Guard will be established. (UNI)