DAC approves defence procurement worth Rs. 3,500 crore

In the face of kickback allegations in the 12 VVIP and 197 Light Utility helicopters deal, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Monday gave green signal to defence purchases worth Rs. 3,500 crore including night vision devices for the Army and underwater Special Operations Vessels for the navy.

During the DAC meeting, attended by the newly inducted Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh and DG Acquisition SB Agnihotri, Defence Minister AK Antony also sent a strong message to the armed forces to be extra cautious while carrying out the procurement processes. Obliquely hinting at the media reports on two helicopter deals with Italy coming under scanner, Antony said: “The competition is stiff nowadays among the different competitors and we need to be very careful.”

However, the DAC did not take up the issue of 197 helicotpers.

The 1.1 million-strong Indian Army has been suffering from acute “night blindness” in the face of the shortage of night vision devices for its foot soldiers. The DAC’s approval is a small step towards addressing the issue of “night blindness” – the 1.1 million strong Indian Army is suffering from.  

“The DAC has approved purchase of 2500 units of handheld thermal imagers valuing around Rs. 800 crore,” sources said. The Army had been pushing for the deal for a long time now.

Some of foot soldiers of Indian Army have been equipped with hand-held thermal imagers,  long-range reconnaissance and observation systems and battlefield surveillance radars (LORROS), either procured from countries like Israel and France or manufactured indigenously by defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL). ''But many more are needed. We would, for instance, like two LORROS units in every battalion. Most of the night-vision equipment held by us is actually second-generation, not like the third-generation devices deployed by countries like US, Russia, France, UK, China and others,'' said an Army officer.

The acquisition process is so slow and infantrymen are experience operational difficulties in night missions. The night sights on its light machine guns, for example, are so power ineffective that their batteries drain out within two hours. 

Along with this another important clearance has been for the construction of two underwater special operations vessel at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) under a project of Rs. 1,700 crore. During the 90 minute meeting, the DAC also approved construction of a cadet training ship at the cost of Rs. 480 crore at ABG Shipyard, sources said.