Promulgated: Strategic Partnership
Forty-five different systems and equipment worth over Rs.118,882.6 crore designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have been approved for induction into the Armed Forces during the last five years.
These systems include various types of platforms, Sonars, Radars, Software Defined Radios, Missile Systems, Gun Systems, Munitions, and Bridging equipment among others, said Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on 9 Dec 2019.
DRDO has developed systems and equipment for the Armed Forces in various technology domains.
Value of systems, products and technologies developed by DRDO and inducted into the Services or in the process of induction stands over Rs 2.75 lakh crore. This figure does not include Strategic Systems, he said.
He further said the Armed Forces’ modernization is a systematic process undertaken through a Fifteen years Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP), Five Years Services Capital Acquisition Plan (SCAP) and the Annual Acquisition Plan (AAP).
The modernisation process aims at keeping the Indian Armed Forces in a state of operational readiness and optimally equipped with modern weapon systems.
The budget allocation for modernisation of defence equipment is utilized to meet the urgent operational requirements of the Defence Forces and for acquisitions of contemporary systems based on the planned priorities of the Defence Forces.
The Government is pursuing initiatives to achieve higher levels of indigenisation and self-reliance in the defence sector by harnessing the capabilities of the public and private sector industries in the country.
These measures include according priority and preference to procurement from Indian vendors and liberalization of the licensing regime.
Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) accords the highest priority to Buy Indian (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) (IDDM).
The ‘Make’ procedure has been simplified with provisions for earmarking projects not exceeding development cost of Rs.10 crores (government funded) and Rs.3 crores (Industry funded) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and with provisions for involving private industry as production agencies and technology transfer partners.
The Government has also promulgated the policy on Strategic Partnership in the Defence Sector to encourage broader participation of the private sector in manufacture of major defence platforms and equipment, said Naik.
During last five financial years (2014-15 to 2018-19), 164 contracts worth about Rs.149,259.07 crore have been signed with Indian vendors for capital procurement of defence equipment for Armed Forces. Fiinews.com
During last three financial years (2016-17 to 2018-19), 149 capital acquisition contracts have been concluded, out of which 58 contracts worth about Rs.138,727.16 crore and 91 contracts worth about Rs.76,955.73 crore have been placed on foreign vendors and Indian vendors, respectively. These are for procurement of defence equipment for the Indian Armed Forces. fiinews.com