New Delhi: As a major boost to indigenous defence industry, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) at its meeting of September 29 chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for Capital Acquisitions proposals for modernization and operational needs of the Indian Armed Forces amounting to about  Rs 13,165 crore of which 87 per cent procurement worth Rs 11,486 crore is from the domestic sources.

Among the 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 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) under Buy Indian-IDDM at an approximate cost of Rs 3,850 crore, in keeping with the continued thrust towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’.

Giving boost to Indigenous Design and Development of ammunitions, DAC accorded approval for procurement of Terminally Guided Munition (TGM) and HEPF/RHE Rocket Ammunition under Buy (Indian-IDDM) category at an approximate cost of Rs 4,962 crore from domestic sources.  Other proposals worth Rs 4,353 crore were also accorded 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.