In a late-evening decision on Wednesday, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, cleared major long-pending defence deals, including an Avro replacement programme, M-777 howitzers and Kamov-228 light utility helicopters from Russia.
For the M-777 Ultra-Light Howitzers, the original deal under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme with the U.S. government has been approved for 145 guns worth Rs. 2,900 crore.
The lone bid by Tata-Airbus under the long-delayed Rs. 12,000-crore Avro replacement programme for 56 aircraft has been cleared. While 16 aircraft will come in fly-away condition from the original manufacturer, the remaining 40 will be manufactured in India by Tata under Transfer of Technology (ToT). It has been held up due to single vendor situation.
“It will create the necessary infrastructure in India for aerospace development,” defence ministry officials
A deal for 200-plus Kamov-228 helicopters from Russia as light-utility helicopters (LUH) for the Army and the Air Force has got the go-ahead. Cost and the modalities of the deal will now be negotiated with Russia. The deal will involve 100 percent ToT, defence sources said. The decision for building helicopters in India was announced during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India last year.
The DAC has allocated Rs. 30 crore for commencement of “preparatory work” for construction of Indigenous Aircraft Carrier-II. This is in-principle approval for IAC-II for design and evaluation, officials informed.
The Indian Navy will get six additional units of BrahMos cruise missiles for six of its frontline warships worth Rs. 2,700 crore to replace older missiles onboard.
Other deals include installation and operationalisation of telemedicine, onboard Indian Navy ships and establishments, developed by Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and handed to a private vendor and conversion of two Boeing 777ER aircraft of Air India into VVIP configuration for use by the Prime Minister.
With these decisions all major pending modernisation deals of the armed forces have been cleared, officials added.
