NEW DELHI: The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Friday cleared capital acquisition proposals worth around Rs 52,000 crore, with counter-drone systems, layered air defence, anti-tank weapons and persistent surveillance platforms emerging as the biggest priorities in the armed forces' latest modernisation push.
Chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the DAC granted the “acceptance of necessity” for the projects, which is only the first step in the long-winded procurement process. The proposals will now wind their way through tendering, technical evaluation and cost negotiations, with the high-value ones also needing the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) nod, before contracts are eventually inked.
The Friday meeting was also the first of the DAC since a sweeping churn at the top of the military hierarchy, with Gen Raja Subramani having taken over as Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Dhiraj Seth as Army chief and Adm Krishna Swaminathan as Navy chief.
The latest approvals also point to the way Operation Sindoor has influenced the military’s acquisition priorities. The hostilities with Pakistan, in which swarms of drones and loitering munitions slugged it out with air defence networks on both sides, has forced the shift away from big-ticket conventional platforms towards counter-UAV systems, layered air defence, better tank survivability and round-the-clock intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).
The Army cornered the biggest chunk of approvals. Topping its list is the indigenous ‘Akash-Tarang', an anti-UAV electronic warfare (EW) system built to detect, track and jam hostile drones before they get anywhere near forward troops. With cheap drones and loitering munitions emerging as a defining threat in recent conflicts, counter-UAV soft kill capability has become one of the military’s fastest-growing operational needs.
The DAC also cleared 2,300 indigenous man-portable anti-tank guided missiles (MPATGMs), along with 100 launchers and five simulators, for around Rs 2,600 crore, sources said. Developed by DRDO for production by state-run Bharat Dynamics, the third-generation, fire-and-forget missile packs an imaging infrared seeker, tandem warhead and top-attack capability to take out modern tanks and will progressively replace the vintage Milan and Konkurs ATGMs in infantry units.
Also cleared were additional Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) systems and the shoulder-fired Verba VSHORADS, the fourth-generation Russian MANPADS which will be manufactured in India by Adani Defence under transfer of technology from Rosoboronexport. The Verba, which succeeds the Igla-S with a multi-spectral seeker far harder to fool with flares or laser dazzlers, will thicken the Army’s layered air defence against jets, choppers, cruise missiles and drones.
The package also includes Active Protection Systems (APS) to keep tanks alive on a contested battlefield and a jet-based kamikaze drone system for longer-range precision strikes.
For the Navy, the DAC cleared the Multi-Influence Ground Mine (MIGM), a Naval Shipborne Unmanned Aerial System (NSUAS) and a land-based testing facility for electric propulsion. The smart mines, which read a passing ship’s magnetic, acoustic and pressure signatures, will strengthen the Navy’s sea-denial punch, while the shipborne drones extend a warship’s eyes over the horizon.
The shore-based facility, in turn, will let the Navy prove motors and propulsion for its next-generation warships before they put to sea, electric drives being far quieter and harder to detect underwater.
For the IAF, the headline approval is the Fixed-Wing Based High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (FW-HAPS), a solar-powered platform built to loiter in the stratosphere for weeks on end. Sitting between conventional drones and satellites, it will deliver persistent ISR, along with communication and remote sensing, at a fraction of a satellite’s cost, and can be shifted or have its payload swapped at will.
The DAC cleared other IAF proposals too, without specifying.
The government in its statement said that the acquisitions are meant to, “enhance the combat readiness of the defence forces.”
