Defence Ministry has cleared procurement proposals worth 21000 crore rupees to promote domestic military industry. It has also okayed a project for the production of 56 transport aircraft to replace the IAF's fleet of Avro aircraft. This will open only to Indian private sector companies.
The proposals were cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council. Chairing his first meeting of the Council , Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said, there are many proposals in the pipeline for the defence forces and today, they have tried to expedite quite a few of them. Jaitley said production of 56 transport aircraft is going to be a significant project in which the private sector will be the sole player and lead to capacity- building in the private sector. As per the proposal, private Indian defence companies such as Tata and Mahindra will be issued tender and they will build the aircraft in partnership with foreign firms.
Among the major proposals to receive approval is a 9,000 crore rupees tender to provide five fleet support ships for the Navy. Defence Ministry officials said the Request for the proposal will be issued to all public and private sector shipyards. They said the majority of the proposals cleared will involve only Indian public and private sector firms and are aimed at increasing the indigenisation of military hardware.
Officials said a proposal for supply of 32 HAL-built Advanced Light Helicopter, 'Dhruv', to the Coast Guard and the Navy at a cost of 7,000 crore was also okayed. Under the proposal, state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd will supply 16 helicopters each to the Coast Guard and the Navy and also provide maintenance.
The meeting also cleared the procurement of five Fast Patrol Vessels and Offshore Patrol Vessels each for the Coast Guard at the cost of 2,360 crore rupees. Twill be built by the state-owned GRSE and Goa Shipyards Ltd.
A proposal to procure Search and Rescue equipment for the three services at a cost of 900 crores, too has received the green light.
The NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is stressing on indigenisation of the military industry given that India has to import 70 per cent of its defence hardware.
