New Delhi: As part of Prime Minister Modi”s defence modernisation plan to meet the challenge from neighbouring China and Pakistan, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday cleared the purchase of 814 mounted gun systems for the Indian Army at a cost of US $2.55 billion (Rs 15,750 crore) at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) he chaired here.
This exercise has, however, been gone through six times since 1999 but the purchase was cancelled every time due to a number of reasons including blacklisting of the bidders and the single vendor scenario. The Indian Army has not acquired a single artillery gun in the last three decades since after the Bofors scam broke out in 1986 over purchase of the howitzer.
Defence Ministry sources said the DAC has cleared the long pending proposal to acquire 814 mounted guns of 155mm/52 calibre. They said a fresh Request for Proposal (RFP) would be issued for the procurement, open to both public and private companies in India and abroad.
They said only 100 guns would be imported while the remaining 714 would have to be produced in India under the “Buy and Make” procedure introduced last year. Tata Power”s Strategic Engineering Division has already unveiled its first mount1ed gun system on a Tata truck in 2012, while other competitors from India will be Mahindra Defence, L&T and Bharat Forge.
“Whether the contract is bagged by a foreign company or otherwise, an Indian company will be the lead partner and it can either show its ability to make the guns completely in India or tie-up with a foreign firm to build them here,” a ministry official said.
As regards the joint bid by Tata Sons and European firm Airbus to manufacture 56 transport aircraft to replace the ageing Avro fleet of the IAF, sources said the DAC has sought additional information. On a similar ground, the DAC deferred the proposal to acquire 106 Swiss Pilatus basic trainer aircraft for the IAF at an estimated cost of about Rs 8,200 crore.
According to the Ministry sources, Parrikar said that the DAC could be held for more than a month and with lesser agenda. As of now, the Ministry is aiming to hold DAC at least once a month. During the discussion today, the issue of “Make In India” initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi also came up. Sources said there would be more discussion on the matter and the effort is to make the entire process more attractive to foreign investors.
The DAC, set up in 2001 as part of the post-Kargil reforms in defence sector, approves the long-term integrated perspective plan for the forces, accords acceptance of necessity (AON) to begin acquisition proposals, and has to grant its approval to all major deals through all their important phases. It also has the power to approve any deviations in an acquisition, and recommends all big purchases for approval of the Cabinet committee on security.
