The Defence Ministry on Wednesday once again gave emergency powers to the armed forces to procure weapons systems upto ₹300 crore on an urgent basis, without any further clearances, to cut short the procurement cycle, the Defence Ministry said. Similar powers were given to the Services after the Balakot air strike in February 2019.
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The decision was taken at a special meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, which the Ministry convened considering the security environment due to prevailing situation along the northern borders and the need to strengthen the armed forces.
Shorter timelines
“The DAC delegated the powers for processing urgent capital acquisition cases upto ₹300 crore to the armed forces to meet their emergent operational requirements. This will shrink the procurement timelines and ensure placement of orders within six months and commencement of deliveries within one year,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The Army has already taken a decision to place repeat orders for 72,400 SIG-716 assault rifles from Sig Sauer of the U.S. and 12 launchers and around 250 missiles of Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) from Israel.
In addition, the Army is also looking to procure additional Heron Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAV) and portable air defence systems among others. The armed forces have separate financial powers given to Vice-Chiefs under the revenue route to procure ammunition and spares.
