In a major boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for ‘Aatmanirbharta’ (self-reliance), the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has offered four projects to the Indian Industry for design and development under Make-I category of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020, an official release said on Thursday (3 March).
The industry will be provided financial support for prototype development of these projects, the Defence Ministry said in a release.
The list of projects which were accorded ‘Approval In-Principle (AIP)’ by Collegiate Committee of Defence Ministry include:
Indian Air Force: Communication Equipment with Indian Security Protocols (Routers, Switches, Encryptors, VoIP Phones and their software)
Indian Air Force: Airborne Electro Optical pod with Ground Based System
Indian Air Force: Airborne Stand-off Jammer
Indian Army: Indian Light Tank
According to the ministry, 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.
In addition, AIP has also been accorded to following five projects under industry-funded Make-II procedure:
Indian Air Force: Full Motion Simulator for Apache Helicopter
Indian Air Force: Full Motion Simulator for Chinook Helicopter
Indian Air Force: Wearable Robotic Equipment for Aircraft Maintenance
Indian Army: Integrated Surveillance and Targeting System for Mechanised Forces
Indian Army: Autonomous Combat Vehicle
The projects under 'Make-II' category involve prototype development of equipment/system/platform or their upgrades or their sub-systems/sub-assembly/assemblies/components, primarily for import substitution/innovative solutions, for which no government funding will be provided for prototype development purposes.
The ministry said that 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.