Defence Acquisition Council approves Rs 45,000 crore defence proposals

The Defence Acquisition Council chaired by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on 15 September 2023  approved a total of nine acquisition proposals totalling Rs 45,000 crore for the Indian Armed forces . 

According to the defence ministry “ all the acquisition will be made from Indian vendors under Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDMM)/Buy (Indian) category which will give substantial boost to the Indian defence Industry towards achieving the goal of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”

The defence minister Rajnath singh said that  “rather than a threshold of 50% indigenous content for IDDM projects, we should aim for a minimum 60-65% indigenous content,” 

Proposals Approved for the armed forces 

• 12 Su-30MKIs for the Indian Air Force, which would be manufactured in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited under licence from Sukhoi Aviation Company, 

Russia . These Aircrafts will be the most modern Su-30 MKI aircraft in India and will be equipped with a number of Indian weapons and sensors. According to the government these newly manufactured Su-30MKIs will have to be equipped with more than 60 percent indigenous content.

• The Indian Air Force will also be getting avionic upgradation of Dornier aircraft to improve the accuracy and reliability for operations.
• The Air force will also get Short Range Air-to-Surface Missile, Dhruvastra as a potent indigenous precision-guided weapon for indigenously built ALH Mk-IV helicopters.
• Dhruvastra  is a helicopter launched variant of anti tank missile Nag. It has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). 
• The Indian Army will get Light Armoured Multipurpose Vehicles (LAMV) and Integrated Surveillance and Targeting System (ISAT-S), and High Mobility Vehicle (HMV) Gun Towing Vehicles for swift mobilisation and deployment of Artillery Guns and Radars.
• For the Indian Navy, the DAC approved the procurement of Next Generation Survey Vessels that will greatly enhance its capabilities in performing Hydrographic Operations.

Defence Acquisition Council

• It was set up on the recommendation of the Group of Ministers on Reforming the National Security System in February 2001.
• The DAC is the highest decision-making body in the Defence Ministry for deciding on new policies and capital acquisitions for the Army, Navy ,Air Force  and the Indian Coast Guard.
• The Union Defence Minister is the Chairman of the Council.