India’s Defence Acquisition Council green lights $26.8 billion in spending
Summary
India’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has approved INR2.3 trillion (US$26.8 billion) to purchase light combat helicopters (LCH), munitions and towed gun for the Indian Army, as well as LCHs and Tejas Mk1A light combat aircraft for the air force and medium range anti-ship missiles (MRAShM) for Indian Navy (IN) ships. Additionally, the army’s T-90 MBTs will receive an automatic target tracker and new computer system as part of a drive to increase the platform’s lethality. The MRAShM has been envisaged as a lightweight surface-to-surface missile which will be a primary offensive weapon onboard IN ships. Additionally, for all procurement cases with AoN cost up to INR3 billion ($36 million), registered micro, small and medium enterprises and recognised start-ups will be considered for issue of Request for Proposal without any stipulation of financial parameters. This might further be relaxed with approval of Defence Procurement Board (DPB) for AoN costs up to RAN5billion ($59.9 million) on a case-to-case basis.