Government approves purchase of fighter jets, missile systems, weapons worth Rs 38,900 crore
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Thursday approved a proposal for procurement of armament, including Russian fighter jets, indigenous missile systems and radars, worth Rs 38,900 crore.
Focused on indigenous design and development these approvals include acquisitions from Indian defence industry of Rs 31,130 crore. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the DAC chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh.
The council also approved proposals to procure fighter jets and upgrade existing ones. Twenty-one MiG-29 fighter jets are being bought from Russia while 12 Su-30 MKI aircraft will be procured from Russia. The ministry has also approved a separate proposal to upgrade existing 59 MiG-29 aircraft.
The procurement of 21 MiG-29 and upgrading of the existing fleet of MiG-29 are estimated to cost the government Rs 7,418 crore while the purchase of 12 new Su-30 MKI from the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd will be made for Rs 10,730 crore, the officials said.
Keeping in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”, the council said that the equipment will be manufactured in India involving Indian defence industry with the participation of several MSMEs as prime-tier vendors.
The Indigenous content in some of these projects is up to 80% of the project cost, it added.
A large number of these projects have been made possible due to Transfer of Technology by DRDO to the indigenous industry. These include Pinaka ammunitions, BMP armament upgrades and Software Defined Radios for the Army, Long Range Land Attack Cruise Missile Systems and Astra Missiles for Navy and Air Force. The cost of these Design and Development proposals is in the range of Rs 20,400 crore, the council elaborated.
The council said that the acquisition of new/additional missile systems will add to the firepower of three Services.
The acquisition of Pinaka missile systems will enable raising additional regiments over and above the ones already inducted, the addition of Long-Range Land Attack Missile Systems having a firing range of 1000 Km to the existing arsenal will bolster the attack capabilities of the Navy and the Air Force.
Similarly, the induction of Astra Missiles having Beyond Visual Range capability will serve as a force multiplier and immensely add to the strike capability of Navy and Air Force.
