Procurement of sub-hunting choppers, howitzers, missiles worth Rs 46,000 crore gets defence ministry's initial nod
NEW DELHI: The defence ministry on Saturday gave initial approvals to long-delayed procurement initiatives for brand new helicopters, howitzers and air defence missile methods price round Rs 46,000 crore, which incorporates the Rs 13,500 crore government-to-government handle the US for 24 naval multi-role MH-60 ‘Romeo’ choppers.
The grant of acceptance of necessity (AoN) for the heavy-duty MH-60 helicopters manufactured by Sikorsky-Lockheed Martin, and designed to discover, monitor and hunt enemy submarines, by the Nirmala Sitharaman-led defence acquisitions council (DAC) comes forward of the inaugural “two-plus-two” discussion between India and the US here on September 6.
This is the second one giant US undertaking to be cleared by the DAC earlier than the bilateral discussion is held by Sitharaman and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj with their American counterparts, Jim Mattis and Mike Pompeo. The first used to be the AoN accorded to the $1 billion acquisition of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System-II (NASAMS-II), which is slated for deployment as a missile shield for New Delhi, as used to be previous reported by TOI.
These AoNs will after all take a little time to materialise into precise contracts after commercial negotiations between the two governments below the US “Foreign Military Sales (FMS)” programme. But the FMS direction is regarded as “a lot sooner and cleaner” than the cumbersome global smooth process, which takes several years and is often derailed by corruption allegations in India. The US, on its section, is raring to bag more offers, having notched military gross sales price $17 billion to India simply since 2007.
The DAC also approved the over Rs 21,000 crore procurement of 111 armed naval software helicopters below the “strategic partnership (SP)” policy, which seeks to spice up the Indian personal sector’s role in manufacturing of complicated weapon methods in tie-u.s.with foreign armament majors.
Officials said the “Make in India” manufacturing of the 111 twin-engine choppers, which will change the growing old fleet of single-engine Chetak helicopters that function from warship decks, would be the first undertaking to kick off below the SP policy. The four global aviation majors in contention are Airbus, Bell, Sikorsky-Lockheed Martin and Russian Helicopters.
Another primary undertaking cleared on Saturday used to be the acquisition of 150 indigenous Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems (ATAGS) for the Army at a price of Rs 3,365 crore. These 155 mm/52 calibre howitzers, with a strike differ of over 40-km, were developed by DRDO and can be produced by personal sector corporations Tata Power and Bharat Forge.
The DAC also approved the procurement of 14 vertically-launched short-range surface-to-air missile methods for stealth frigates and anti-submarine warfare corvettes from European firm MBDA. “Ten of these air defence methods can be produced in India,” said an official.
Both the multi-role and software helicopters are “important operational prerequisites” for the Navy, which have been putting fireplace for smartly over a decade. Indian warships are virtually bereft of such helicopters at a time when Chinese nuclear and diesel-electric submarines are making regular forays into the Indian Ocean Region.
The 140-warship force has almost about a dozen outdated Sea King and 10 Kamov-28 anti-submarine warfare helicopters. “The direct procurement of the primary 24 multi-role helicopters can be adopted by a separate SP undertaking later to supply 123 such choppers here,” said the official.
The grant of acceptance of necessity (AoN) for the heavy-duty MH-60 helicopters manufactured by Sikorsky-Lockheed Martin, and designed to discover, monitor and hunt enemy submarines, by the Nirmala Sitharaman-led defence acquisitions council (DAC) comes forward of the inaugural “two-plus-two” discussion between India and the US here on September 6.
This is the second one giant US undertaking to be cleared by the DAC earlier than the bilateral discussion is held by Sitharaman and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj with their American counterparts, Jim Mattis and Mike Pompeo. The first used to be the AoN accorded to the $1 billion acquisition of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System-II (NASAMS-II), which is slated for deployment as a missile shield for New Delhi, as used to be previous reported by TOI.
These AoNs will after all take a little time to materialise into precise contracts after commercial negotiations between the two governments below the US “Foreign Military Sales (FMS)” programme. But the FMS direction is regarded as “a lot sooner and cleaner” than the cumbersome global smooth process, which takes several years and is often derailed by corruption allegations in India. The US, on its section, is raring to bag more offers, having notched military gross sales price $17 billion to India simply since 2007.
The DAC also approved the over Rs 21,000 crore procurement of 111 armed naval software helicopters below the “strategic partnership (SP)” policy, which seeks to spice up the Indian personal sector’s role in manufacturing of complicated weapon methods in tie-u.s.with foreign armament majors.
Officials said the “Make in India” manufacturing of the 111 twin-engine choppers, which will change the growing old fleet of single-engine Chetak helicopters that function from warship decks, would be the first undertaking to kick off below the SP policy. The four global aviation majors in contention are Airbus, Bell, Sikorsky-Lockheed Martin and Russian Helicopters.
Another primary undertaking cleared on Saturday used to be the acquisition of 150 indigenous Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems (ATAGS) for the Army at a price of Rs 3,365 crore. These 155 mm/52 calibre howitzers, with a strike differ of over 40-km, were developed by DRDO and can be produced by personal sector corporations Tata Power and Bharat Forge.
The DAC also approved the procurement of 14 vertically-launched short-range surface-to-air missile methods for stealth frigates and anti-submarine warfare corvettes from European firm MBDA. “Ten of these air defence methods can be produced in India,” said an official.
Both the multi-role and software helicopters are “important operational prerequisites” for the Navy, which have been putting fireplace for smartly over a decade. Indian warships are virtually bereft of such helicopters at a time when Chinese nuclear and diesel-electric submarines are making regular forays into the Indian Ocean Region.
The 140-warship force has almost about a dozen outdated Sea King and 10 Kamov-28 anti-submarine warfare helicopters. “The direct procurement of the primary 24 multi-role helicopters can be adopted by a separate SP undertaking later to supply 123 such choppers here,” said the official.
Procurement of sub-hunting choppers, howitzers, missiles worth Rs 46,000 crore gets defence ministry's initial nod
![Procurement of sub-hunting choppers, howitzers, missiles worth Rs 46,000 crore gets defence ministry's initial nod]()
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August 25, 2018
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