Armed forces get powers to fast-track capital procurements worth ₹300 crore

Defence minister Rajnath Singh will visit Ladakh this week to take stock of the ground situation amid the ongoing military tensions with China, even as the armed forces on Wednesday were authorized to fast-track capital procurements worth Rs 300 crore to plug their operational deficiencies. Singh, accompanied by Army chief General M M Naravane, will visit Ladakh on July 17, and then go to forward areas in Jammu and Kashmir the next day to review operational readiness along both the fronts with China and Pakistan. This comes after PM Narendra Modi visited eastern Ladakh on July 3 to firmly declare the “era of expansionism” was over, in a strong message to China that India was ready to defend its frontiers at all costs. Ahead of Singh’s visit, the defence acquisitions council (DAC) chaired by him on Wednesday delegated the powers for “progressing urgent capital acquisition cases up to Rs 300 crore” to the armed forces to meet their emergent operational requirements in face of the troop confrontation with China. “This will shrink the procurement timelines and ensure placement of orders within six months and commencement of deliveries within one year. The special DAC meeting was convened due to the prevailing security situation along the northern borders (with China) and the need to strengthen the armed forces for the defence of our borders,” said a MoD official. The 13-lakh strong Army, incidentally, is finalizing several acquisition proposals that range from “Spike Firefly loitering munitions” and additional “Spike” anti-tank guided missiles and launchers from Israel to small hand-launched Raven drones and 72,000 more SiG Sauer assault rifles from the US. There are also bigger procurement proposals in the pipeline, which will cost much beyond Rs 300 crore, for lightweight tanks that can be deployed in high-altitude regions and additional Israeli “Heron” surveillance as well as missile-armed unmanned aerial vehicles. Similarly, the case for 93,895 close-quarter battle (CQB) carbines from UAE company Caracal is also on the cards. The DAC on July 2 had approved several big capital procurement projects worth Rs 38,900 crore, which included 21 additional MiG-29 and 12 Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets as well as 300 Nirbhay long-range land-attack cruise missiles and 250 Astra air-to-air missiles, as was then reported by TOI. Though these projects will take at least two to three years to fructify, they signal the government’s renewed thrust on building military capabilities for the two active borders with China and Pakistan despite budgetary constraints.