The Indian Army has finalised contracts worth approximately ₹17,500 crore over the last eight years under the swift Emergency Procurement (EP) route introduced post-Uri terror attack to address critical operational requirements, especially at the northern borders with China. The Army, said sources in the defence establishment, managed to save time and money by opting for capacity enhancement through the EP system. About ₹2,050 crore was saved by way of economic intelligence used during procurement processing, stated defence sources.

Procurement under this scheme, which also provided business opportunities to the domestic defence industry, ended last week. Of the total contracts matured in the first three phases of EP, from 2016 to 2022, over ₹1,800 crore was spent on modern weapons, equipment, and ammunition, and almost an equivalent amount was used for communication and non-communication equipment.

Similarly, approximately ₹900 crore was spent on 10 contracts related to surveillance equipment, close to ₹1,500 crore was allocated for 14 projects on drones and counter-drone systems and nearly ₹1,000 crore went towards enhancing mobility in various terrain and engineering equipment, informed defence sources.

In the last EP-IV phase alone, which covered a year from September 2022, more than 70 schemes worth nearly ₹11,000 crores were finalised, defence sources narrated. Sharing break-up, sources elaborated, about 6-7 schemes related to weapon systems consumed ₹1,300 crore, while seven-eight projects for protective equipment were worth ₹1,300 crore, and 9 to 10 schemes allocated almost ₹1,500 crore for intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance purposes.

Likewise, ₹2000 crore was reserved for about 10 projects focusing again on drones and counter drones, and communication and non-communication equipment comprised about a dozen plus projects, absorbing approximately ₹1,800 crore. Lastly, a significant amount of ₹3,100 crore was used for about 25 projects on survivability and training.

A remarkable 50 percent of contracts in the first three tranches were awarded to the domestic industry. In the EP-IV phase, more than 70 schemes, amounting to close to ₹11,000 crore, were contracted to the Indian vendors. A defence official stated that such a mechanism needs to be institutionalized for the long term to bring reform in the existing routine acquisition process which is complex and time consuming.

Major upgrades facilitated through the EP mechanism encompassed Remote Control Weapon systems, Air Defence missiles, Anti Tank Missiles, Satellite Downlink & Recording systems, VSAT terminal, Portable mobile terminals, Secure Army Mobile systems, All Terrain Vehicles, High Mobility Reconnaissance Vehicles, Radars, Loiter Ammunition, Drones, Counter Drone systems, High Endurance UAVs, Ballistic Helmets, Navigation Systems, and Simulation systems.

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