NEW DELHI: The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Friday accorded the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for nine capital acquisition proposals to the tune of around Rs 45,000 crore. The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The Ministry of Defence said, "The AoN for procurement of 12 Su-30 MKI Aircraft with associated equipment from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was also accorded."
This will help make up for the fast dwindling fighters in the IAF. At present, the force is down to 30 combat squadrons against the 42 squadrons sanctioned for it. A normal squadron of the IAF comprises 18 fighters.
Sukhoi 30MKI is a long range multi-role fighter aircraft which is integrated with potent weapons and systems including the indigenous Astra and Brahmos missiles. Astra is an indigenous Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile and BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile.
The other AoN for proposals of the Indian Air Force included avionic upgradation of Dornier Aircraft to improve the accuracy and reliability for operations. The procurement of Dhruvastra Short Range Air-to-Surface Missile as a potent Indigenous Precision Guided Weapon for indigenously built ALH Mk-IV helicopters has been cleared by the DAC.
For the Army, to enhance protection, mobility, attack capability and increased survivability of mechanised forces, the DAC accorded the AoN for procurement of Light Armoured Multipurpose Vehicles (LAMV) and Integrated Surveillance and Targeting System (ISAT-S). The other approvals for the Army included procurement of High Mobility Vehicle (HMV) Gun Towing Vehicles for swift mobilisation and deployment of Artillery Guns and Radars.
Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) means the government has accepted the need for the equipment and is the first step towards initiation of the procurement process.
The DAC chaired by the Defence Minister is the highest decision making body of the Ministry of Defence on policy and capital procurement issues.
The DAC also approved procurement of Next Generation Survey Vessels for the Indian Navy which will greatly enhance its capabilities in performing hydrographic operations.
All these procurements 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'.
During the meeting, Rajnath Singh stated that it is time to upgrade ambitions towards indigenisation. The minister directed the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs, Defence Secretary and DG (Acquisition) to work towards increasing the minimum indigenous content threshold in consultation with Indian industry. "Rather than a threshold of 50% indigenous content for IDDM projects, we should aim for a minimum 60-65% indigenous content," he said.