Army purchase worth Rs 8.4k crore gets DAC nod

The defence ministry on Tuesday gave initial approvals to military modernisation projects, including a GSAT-7B satellite, light vehicles and night-vision devices for Army, worth Rs 8,357 crore.

The Rajnath Singh-led Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC) accorded acceptance of necessity (AoN) to all proposals under the ‘Buy (Indian IDDM)’ category, which focuses on indigenous design, development and manufacturing of weapon systems and platforms.

The AoNs included procurement of around 30,000 night-sight or image intensifiers for assault rifles at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore, 5,000 GS 4X4 light vehicles for Rs 760 crore and some light-weight air defence fire control radars.


The GSAT-7B satellite for the Army, in turn, will cost around Rs 4,600 crore. In November last year, the DAC had also given the initial nod to a Rs 2,236 crore proposal to launch the GSAT-7C satellite for IAF, which already has the GSAT-7A operational. The Navy, in turn, has had the GSAT-7 or Rukmini for several years now.

After the DAC meeting, an official said, “Acquisition of these equipment and systems will enhance operational preparedness of the armed forces by providing better visibility, enhanced mobility, improved communication and increased capability of detecting enemy aircraft.”

DAC separately accorded a consolidated AoN for procurement of 14 items worth Rs 380 crore from iDEX (innovations for defence excellence) start-ups and MSMEs to encourage innovation.

The DAC approved some policy initiatives in the Defence Acquisition Procedure-2020 to accelerate the pace of indigenisation, achieve self-reliance in defence and to facilitate the ease of doing business for the defence industry. “All modernisation requirements of the defence forces will be indigenously sourced and import will be resorted to only as an exception,” the official said.