India may clear some major defence ideas

New Delhi [India]: In the first Defence Acquisition Council meeting to be held with new Chief of Defence Staff, Army and Navy Chiefs in attendance, the Defence Ministry is expected to clear mega proposals including the acquisition of the HAMMER air to ground precision guided munitions for the Rafales and LCA Tejas aircraft, the Verba very short-range air defence systems, fixed wing pseudo satellites and Naval shipborne aerial systems.The DAC is meeting after a gap of many months and will see Gen Raja Subramani, Gen Dhiraj Seth and Admiral Krishna Swaminathan for the first time attending it as chiefs.The meeting scheduled to be held tomorrow has a major indigenous system listed for clearance.

The Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MP-ATGM) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Army will see induction in significant numbers, defence sources told ANI.As per the proposal, the Indian Army will get 100 launchers along with 2300 missiles and five simulators for the weapon system to be produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited as the production agency for the Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured system.The Defence Ministry will also work towards finding new production partners in the private sector for the weapon system and the project cost is expected to be over Rs 2,600 crore.Seeking to strengthen the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy's capabilities to strike enemy targets with accuracy, the Defence Ministry will also consider a proposal to buy 600 HAMMER missiles to be made by Bharat Electronics Limited under Make in India.The HAMMERs were first inducted by the Indian forces under emergency procurement powers post Galwan clashes with China in 2020.

The munitions produced by Safran of France will be manufactured in a tie-up with the Indian public sector unit.The major chunk of the munitions will go to the Indian Air Force, which will equip its Rafales and LCA Tejas fighter aircraft with HAMMERs, while the Indian Navy will use it for its own Rafale Marines.

The deal is expected to be worth around Rs 2,400 crore.The Army Air Defence will see a major upgrade in its capabilities as the Indian Army is looking to buy a large number of Russian-origin Verba very short-range air defence missile systems (V_SHORADS).

The missile system would be produced by Indian firm AdDefence Limited.

The Verba is an advanced version of the Isla missiles already operational in the Indian army.A number of other significant proposals on software-defined radios, Kamikaze drones, drone detection systems and Scorpene class submarines are expected to be taken up for clearance by the DAC. ...