NEW DELHI: In the meeting of Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), held here on Tuesday, Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) was accorded for three capital acquisition proposals, amounting to Rs 4,276 crore. All the three proposals - two of the Indian Army and one of the Indian Navy - are under the Buy (Indian-IDDM) category. The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The Ministry of Defence in its statement said, “The DAC accorded AoN for procurement of HELINA Anti-Tank Guided Missiles, launchers and associated support equipment which will be integrated to the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH). This missile is an essential part of weaponisation of ALH for countering enemy threats. Its induction will strengthen the offensive capability of Indian Army.”
“The DAC also accorded AoN for procurement of VSHORAD (IR Homing) missile system under design and development by DRDO.” added the MoD.
As per the MoD, in view of the recent developments along the Northern borders, there is a need to focus on effective Air Defence (AD) weapon systems which are man portable and can be deployed quickly in rugged terrain and maritime domain, Procurement of VSHORAD, as a robust and quickly deployable system, will strengthen the Air Defence capabilities.
Further, the DAC granted approval for procurement of Brahmos Launcher and Fire Control System (FCS) for the Shivalik class of ships and Next Generation Missile Vessels (NGMVs) for the Indian Navy.
With their induction, said MoD, these ships would have enhanced capability of carrying out maritime strike operations, interdicting and destroying enemy’s warships and merchant vessels.
‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’ refers to the procurement of products from an Indian vendor that have been indigenously designed, developed and manufactured with a minimum of 50% Indigenous Content (IC) on cost basis of the total contract value.
DRDO conducted two successful test flights of the Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) missile in September 2022 from a ground based portable launcher at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha. VSHORADS is a Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPAD) designed and developed indigenously by DRDO’s Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories and Indian Industry Partners.