In a bid to address the “critical
hollowness” faced by the Indian Army especially in the form of depleting tank ammunition,
the Cabinet Committee on Security on Thursday cleared purchase of 10,000 Invar
missiles from Russia worth Rs. 2,000 crore along with the acquisition of
BrahMos missiles for the Indian Air Force (IAF), valuing around Rs. 6,000
crore.
A file photo of the Sukhoi fighter jet with BrahMos air version at display at DefExpo-2012
The shortage of tank ammunition was brought to the light in
a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by the former Indian Army Chief General
VK Singh. The former Army Chief had written that the force was left with only
3-4 days of ammunition in case of an emergency. On Thursday the CCS headed by the
Prime Minister cleared the purchase of 10,000 Invar missiles for the
Russian-built T-90 tanks at an estimate cost of around Rs. 2,000 crore.
Under the proposal, the 10,000 Invars will be brought off the
shelf from the Russian manufacturers whereas 10,000 more will be licensed-produced
by Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) under Transfer of Technology. Invar is fired from the
gun barrel of T-90 tanks that are going to be mainstay of the Indian Army’s
armoured corps in the years to come.
The CCS also gave its nod for the procurement of the
air-version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile that has the capability of
hitting within a range of 290 km. The BrahMos acquisition for the IAF also
includes funds for retrofitting of the missiles with the Russian-built Sukhoi
Su-30MKI fighter jets. The integration of missile – co-developed by India and
Russia – will be done by the Indian aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd
(HAL).
Presently two Su-30MKI fighter jets are being equipped with the
air version of BraMos and the test are scheduled to be conducted by December
end.
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