India clears USD10 billion defence procurement

India has cleared various defence equipment aquisitions, including the procurement of heavyweight torpedoes to enhance the attacking capabilities of Kalvari-class submarines, as shown in the above picture. (Ministry of Defence, India)

India's Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, has approved the procurement of various defence equipment worth INR845.6 billion (USD10.19 billion) for the Indian Armed Forces and the Indian Coast Guard.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a statement on 16 February that the procurement is approved through the provision of an ‘Acceptance of Necessity' (AoN) status under the ‘Buy (Indian)' category.

For the Indian Army, the DAC accorded AoN to procure a new generation of anti-tank mines featuring seismic sensors with a provision of remote deactivation and additional safety features, the MoD said.

The DAC also cleared the procurement of canister-launched anti-armour loiter munition systems to enhance the operational efficiency of the army's mechanised forces and to engage targets that are beyond visual line of sight, the MoD added.

In addition, the DAC accorded AoN to procure air-defence tactical control radars to strengthen the army's air-defence systems, especially the capabilities to detect slow, small, and low-flying targets as well as surveillance, detection, and tracking of different targets, according to the MoD.

The AoN to procure medium-range maritime reconnaissance and multimission maritime aircraft has been granted by the DAC to strengthen the surveillance and interdiction capabilities of the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard.

Further, the DAC cleared the procurement of active towed array sonar for the Indian Navy. The sonar must be capable of operating at low frequencies and various depths for long-range detections of adversary submarines, the MoD said.