New Delhi, Sep 29 (FN Agency) The Defence Ministry on Wednesday cleared the procurement of 25 Mark III Advanced Light Helicopters for the Indian Army at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) where Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for Capital Acquisitions proposals for the armed forces worth Rs 13,165 crore was cleared. The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The ministry said the AoNs cleared were for modernization and operational needs of the Indian Armed Forces and 87 per cent of the procurement will be from domestic sources. Key approvals include helicopters, guided munition and rocket ammunition. “Looking into the need of the Indian Army for an Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) Squadron to improve its integral lift capability ensuring its operational preparedness, the DAC accorded approval of procurement of 25 ALH Mark III helicopters from HAL,” an official statement said.
The procurement from the Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) will be under Buy Indian- Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured category at an approximate cost of Rs.3,850 Crore “in keeping with the continued thrust towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’”, the ministry said. In anther boost to Indigenous design and development of ammunition, DAC accorded approval for procurement of Terminally Guided Munition (TGM) and Rocket Ammunition, also under Buy Indian category at an approximate cost of Rs. 4962 Crore from domestic sources. Other proposals worth Rs 4,353 Crore were also given an AoN by the DAC. In addition, the DAC also approved a few amendments to the DAP 2020 as a part of Business Process Re-engineering to ensure further ease of doing business for the industry as well as measures to enhance procurement efficiency and reducing timelines.