With just a few months left in power for the UPA government, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has cleared procurement projects worth nearly R16,000 crore for the army, navy and the air force.
A DAC meeting chaired by defence minister AK Antony cleared proposals for two Deep Sea Rescue Vessels (DSRV) for R1,500 crore and 16 Anti-Submarine Shallow Water Craft buys for R13,440 crore. It also approved purchase of 41 indigenous Advanced Light Helicopters (Dhruv) for R300 crore (40 for the army and one for navy) and 262 Barak missiles from Israel.
The approval for two DSRVs comes in the wake of the August 14 mishap involving INS Sindhurakshak and would help improve Navy?s response time in case of disasters as these vehicles are capable of performing even in deep seas.
The sixteen 700-tonne anti-submarine shallow water craft would be built by a public sector undertaking, the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), that would work in close coordination with the navy on the design.
State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), which already has orders for 159 ALHs for the army, is now focusing on producing Weapon System Integrated (WSI) ALHs.
The much-delayed procurement of 262 Barak air defence missiles would come at a cost of R880 crore. While this approval means lifting of an embargo on acquiring fresh lot of Barak missiles from Israeli companies, it will still have to go to the Cabinet Committee on Security for final nod.
In 2009, Israel Aerospace Industries ? the flagship company of Israel’s defence sector ? won a $1.1-billion contract from the navy to provide advanced Barak-8 tactical air-defence missiles. However, the actual sale was put on hold by the government because of an investigation into alleged corruption involving the company.
In March 2012, India blacklisted Israel Military Industries, then state-owned and now being privatised, barring it from bidding for Indian defence contracts for 10 years on suspicions of involvement in a 2009 corruption scandal.
