Defence Ministry nod to buy Barak missiles

Council meet, led by Jaitley, clears various proposals

FOR THE HINDU:To go with Mr.Rasheed's stroy on Barak Missile at the Aero India 2005 in Bangalore on Thursday. Photo:Bhagya Prakash.K_11_02_2005 _Bangalore

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of the Defence Ministry on Monday approved the purchase of Barak surface-to-air missiles (SAM) for the Navy among other proposals estimated at ₹860 crore.

This was the first DAC meeting after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took additional charge as Defence Minister following the sudden exit of Manohar Parrikar to take charge as the Chief Minister of Goa after the Assembly elections.

Navy warships

Israeli-built Barak short-range SAMs are installed on most of the front-line warships, including the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya .

The new missiles are urgently needed to replace the current ones which have completed their shelf life. A Ministry source said the procurement of Barak missiles was approved with a categorisation of “Buy Global” under the option clause from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.

The other deals include procurement of expendable Bathy thermograph systems for the Navy to detect temperature changes under water through the foreign military sales route from the U.S. and procurement of equipment to counter mines in the sea, a repeat order, worth ₹311 crore.