Centre to fund four Indian defence projects

New Delhi: In a major push towards ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence sector, the defence ministry accorded in-principle approval to fund four projects by Indian industry. It inclu-des design and development of light tank for the Indian Army and airborne stand-off jammer for the Indian Air Force.  The industry will be provided financial support for prototype development of these projects.

Defence ministry has offered these four projects (one for army and three for IAF) to the Indian Industry for design and development under Make-I category of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.

This is for the first time since the launch of industry-friendly DAP-2020 that Indian industry has been involved in development of big ticket platforms such as Light tank and Communication Equipment with Indian security protocols.

Three  projects for Indian Air were accorded ‘Approval In-Principle (AIP)’ by Collegiate Committee of MoD including communication equipment with Indian security protocols (routers, switches, encryptors, VoIP phones and their software) and Airborne Electro Optical pod with Ground Based System.

“The indigenous development of these projects in the country will help harness the design capabilities of Indian defence industry and position India as a design leader in these technologies,” said defence ministry.

In the defence budget, 70 per cent funds have been kept for domestic procurement in 2022-23. Underlying the importance of Make-in-India in defence sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told Indian industry that surprise element during war can only be attained if customized and unique weapons are developed in one's own country.