New Delhi, Oct 7 (PTI) The government on Wednesday signed a contract worth Rs 659.47 crore with a consortium for procurement of ‘Night Sight’ — image intensifier — along with accessories for the Indian Army, which will enable soldiers to “fully exploit” the longer effective range of the SIG 716 assault rifles, officials said.
These ‘sights’ are capable of engaging targets up to an effective range of 500 m, even under starlit conditions, and provide a significant improvement over the existing Passive Night Sights (PNS), the defence ministry said.
The ministry on Wednesday signed a contract agreement worth Rs 659.47 crore for “procurement of Night Sight (image intensifier) for 7.62 x 51 mm assault rifle along with accessories for the Indian Army, with the consortium of M/s MKU Ltd (lead member) and M/s Medbit Technologies Pvt Ltd,” it said.
“The ‘Night Sight’ will enable soldiers to fully exploit the longer effective range of the SIG 716 assault rifle,” the ministry said.
This procurement, classified as a ‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’ case with more than 51 per cent indigenous content, is a “major step” towards Aatmanirbharta in defence manufacturing, the officials said.
‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’ category refers to the procurement of products from an Indian vendor that have been indigenously designed, developed and manufactured with a minimum of 50 per cent indigenous content on cost basis of the total contract value.
The initiative will also benefit the MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) involved in manufacturing of components and supply of raw material, it said. PTI KND NB
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