The top acquisition committee of the Defence Ministry on Tuesday cleared proposals worth over Rs 30,000 crore, including that to replace army’s 60s vintage air defence guns and for buying four more P81 long-range maritime patrol aircraft for the navy.
The biggest takeaway from the meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, was the acceptance of necessity (AON) for replacing L70 and Zu 23mm guns for army’s air defence under Buy-and-Make category.
Army will go in for 428 guns at a total cost of Rs 16,900 crore.
Replacing of these vintage guns was a major priority for the army. The DAC approval will now pave the way for issuance of a Request for Proposal (RFP).
Only two Indian companies -- Punj Llyod and Bharat Forge -- had responded to an army request for information on the procurement plan.The other major deal cleared, for the acquisition of four more P81 aircraft, involves a cost of Rs 4,380 cr. The original eight-aircraft deal was signed in 2009 and, as per the agreement, three each were to be delivered in 2013 and 2014 and two in 2015.