New Delhi: 119 Defense proposals worth Rs. 2,15,690 crore approx. has been approved by the Defence Ministry under the various categories of capital acquisition, in last three years to promote domestic manufacturing under the Make in India programme, Parliament was informed on Monday.
"In the last three financial years - from 2018-19 to 2020-2021, the government has accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to 119 Defence proposals, worth Rs 2,15,690 crore approximately, under the various categories of capital acquisition promoting domestic manufacturing as per DAP," Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt told Lok tantrik Janata Dal Rajya Sabha member M.V. Shreyams Kumar in writing.

'Make in India' has been implemented in the defense sector through various policy initiatives which promote indigenous design, development, and manufacture of defense items.
And as per Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP), the capital acquisition has been prioritized through 'Buy (Indian-IDDM)', 'Buy (Indian)', 'Buy and Make (Indian)', 'Buy and Make' (Strategic Partnership Model), or 'Make' categories over Buy (Global) category," Bhatt said.

Several significant projects including 155mm artillery gun system 'Dhanush', bridge-laying tank, thermal imaging sight Mark-II for T-72 tank, light combat aircraft 'Tejas', 'Akash' surface to air missile system, submarine 'INS Kalvari', Kolkata-class stealth guided-missile destroyer 'INS Chennai', anti-submarine warfare corvette (ASWC), Arjun armored repair and recovery vehicle, landing craft utility, etc. have been produced in the country under 'Make in India' initiative of the government in last few years, and further production of indigenous defense equipment and innovations therein is a dynamic process and their development is decided based on operational requirements of the armed forces, the Minister said.

Procurement of defense equipment is undertaken from various domestic as well as foreign vendors, based on threat perception, operational challenges, and technological changes and to keep the Armed Forces in a state of readiness to face the security challenges," he said.
Source: IANS