New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh-led Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) Thursday gave Acceptance of Necessity (AON) to 24 capital procurement proposals worth Rs 84,238 crore.
These proposals comprise six for the Indian Army, six for the Indian Air Force, 10 for the Indian Navy, and two for the Indian Coast Guard.
Of the total, 21 of the proposals worth Rs 82,127 crore, have been approved for procurement through the indigenous route.
ThePrint takes a look at the big projects that have been given AON, the first stage in a procurement process that allows the forces to go ahead with a project. The duration of the procurement varies from case to case.
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Project Zorawar
The DAC has approved the initiation process for procurement of 354 light tanks, also known as Project Zorawar.
Under the Rs 16,000 crore-project, the Army will induct indigenous light tanks with a maximum weight of 25 tonnes — and a margin of 10 per cent — that have the same firepower as regular tanks.
These tanks will be armed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), integration of tactical surveillance drones to provide a high degree of situational awareness and loitering munition, along with an active protection system.
The Army also wants these tanks to be amphibious, so they can be deployed across riverine regions, even the Pangong Tso lake in Eastern Ladakh.
The project has been named after Zorawar Singh Kahluria — a military general who served under Jammu’s Raja Gulab Singh — known as the ‘conqueror of Ladakh’.
The plan is to design and develop these tanks indigenously, a project that will be open to both private and state owned firms.
The Army aims to have the production of a prototype and beginning of trials in three years from the sanction of the project, which was Thursday.
The Army currently operates three different types of tanks with the latest being the Arjun Mk 1A, which weighs a massive 68.5 tonnes. The T-90 weighs about 46 tonnes and the T-72 about 45 tonnes.
Ladakh stand-off with China has shown that armoured columns are one of the most prominent factors in defining the operational capability of the land forces.
Army sources have, in the past, admitted that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had inducted a large number of technologically modern, “state-of-art” tanks, which were being employed operationally as a mix of medium and light tanks with high power-to-weight ratios.
While the Army had also deployed its T-90 and T-72 tanks — surprising the Chinese — lighter tanks would mean faster deployment and increased mobility in mountainous terrain.
Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle
Another big project that got the green light was the Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV). This again will be procured through the indigenous route with the bid being open to both private and state-owned firms.
Incidentally, this is the third attempt in over a decade to acquire such capability.
While the AON has been accorded for 480 FICV, the Army will acquire at least 2,000 of them over a period of time.
The FICV will be a tracked vehicle that will replace the 1980’s vintage Soviet-designed BMP-2 currently in use with the 49 battalions of the Mechanised Infantry, each with 51 BMP-2s.
The BMPs are produced under licence at the Ordnance Factory Medak in Telangana.
The proposed FICV are also meant to carry mini tactical surveillance drones and even loitering munitions.
Indian companies expected to be in contention include Mahindra and Mahindra, TATA, Bharat Forge, and Larsen & Toubro.
Foreign firms such as Rosoboronexport of Russia, General Dynamic of the US and Germany’s Rheinmetall are expected to be a part of the competition besides companies from South Africa and South Korea.
The FICV project was first envisaged in the mid-2000s and the formal process was initiated in 2009 by the Mechanised Infantry Directorate.
The 2009 plan had envisaged induction of FICVs beginning in 2022. And this was to be given to a private company. However, the proposal was withdrawn in 2012 as it was felt that an upgrade of existing systems would suffice.
In 2014, a fresh proposal was mooted under which the government was to select state-run Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and two private firms for separately developing prototypes of the FICVs.
The project was to be implemented under Make 1 category of the defence procurement procedure, under which the government would have undertaken 90 per cent of the funding for the prototype for the three selected firms.
This process was stalled with one of the players offering to manufacture the vehicles under Make 2 category, in which the money would have been spent by the industry and not the government.
Mounted Gun System
The DAC has also given the AON for the procurement of 300 mounted gun systems for approximately Rs 7,500 crore.
This is a project that has been pending for years and is part of a 1999 artillery modernisation programme that was rolled out in 2001.
Unlike a regular artillery gun, these 155mmx52 caliber guns will be fitted on a vehicle that will allow it to traverse through tough terrains and also to shoot and scoot quicker.
Ballistic helmets
A small but significant project is Army’s plan to acquire about 80,000 ballistic helmets for its soldiers deployed along the borders with China and Pakistan besides in counter insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
The idea is to replace the system of “patkas”, a round steel plate that the soldiers wear in gun battles.
Even though the Army has gone in for ballistic helmets, the idea is for them to withstand direct fire from the AK 47 assault rifles.
Multi-Purpose Vessels and High Endurance Autonomous Vehicles
The Navy has got sanctions for procurement of Multi-Purpose Vessels and High Endurance Autonomous Vehicles.
Sources in the navy said these vessels are more like plug and play which means that they can be used for various purposes with the right equipment including for mine sweeping.
These vessels are meant to perform multi-role support functions such as maritime surveillance & patrol, launching/ recovery of torpedoes and operation of various types of aerial, surface and underwater targets for Gunnery/ ASW firing exercises.
The Navy has already inked a deal for two multi-purpose vessels with Larson and Tourbo in March this year.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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