Centre gives preliminary nod to projects worth Rs 45,000 crore, including 12 Sukhoi-30MKI fighters

NEW DELHI: The defence acquisition council on Friday approved nine procurement proposals worth around Rs 45,000 crore, including ones to acquire 12 Su-30 MKI fighter jets as well as Dhruvastra air-to-surface missiles and upgrade of Dornier aircraft.
The 12 Su-30MKIs for the Indian Air Force would be manufactured in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
According to defence officials, these would be the most modern Su-30 MKI aircraft of the Indian Air Force equipped with multiple Indian weapons and sensors. The aircraft would include more than 60 per cent indigenous content as per the requirement.
The DAC also approved procurement of Next Generation Survey Vessels for the Indian Navy which will greatly enhance its capabilities in performing Hydrographic Operations.
The go ahead to the Indian Air Force's proposal to carry out the avionics upgrade of the Dornier fleet to improve its accuracy and reliability is considered significant as technical snags on a were reported in the aircraft on a number of occasions earlier this year.
"The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for nine capital acquisition proposals of approx. Rs 45,000 crore," the defence ministry said in a statement.
The AoN refers to the initial approval to any defence acquisition project. The meeting of the DAC that approved the nine proposals was chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh.
"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'," the defence ministry said.
In the DAC meeting, Singh said that it is time to upgrade the ambitions towards indigenisation.
"Rather than a threshold of 50 per cent indigenous content for IDDM projects, we should aim for a minimum 60-65 per cent indigenous content," he said.
To enhance protection, mobility, attack capability and increase survivability of mechanised forces, the DAC accorded the approval for procurement of Light Armoured Multipurpose Vehicles (LAMV) and Integrated Surveillance and Targeting System (ISAT-S), it said in a statement.
The DAC also cleared the procurement of High Mobility Vehicle (HMV) gun towing vehicles for swift mobilisation and deployment of artillery guns and radars.
The DAC further approved procurement of next generation survey vessels for the Indian Navy, the ministry said.

"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," the ministry said.
"The AoN for procurement of 12 Su-30 MKI Aircraft with associated equipment from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was also accorded," it said.
In the DAC meeting, the defence 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 the Indian industry, the ministry said.
The approval to the procurement proposals under the framework of the 'Make in India' initiative came amid the ongoing border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh.
(With inputs from PTI)