Comments
The Ministry of Defence on Wednesday signed three contracts worth ₹5,400 crore with defence PSUs for procurement of automated air defence control and reporting system, Sarang electronic support measure systems and advanced Communication Satellite GSAT 7B.
The ministry said that the latest contracts will further provide boost to ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence sector, as all of them are being sourced under Buy (Indian – IDMM (Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured) category.
‘Project Akashteer’
The first contract with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) pertains to procurement of Automated Air Defence Control and Reporting System ‘Project Akashteer’ at a cost of ₹1,982 crore for the Indian Army, the Defence Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The Project Akashteer will empower the Army’s air defence units with an indigenous, state-of-the-art capability, to effectively operate in an integrated manner, emphasised the MoD. It will also enable monitoring of low level airspace over the battle areas of Army and effectively control the ground-based air defence weapon systems.
Sarang systems
The second contract, also with the BEL, is for acquisition of Sarang Electronic Support Measure (ESM) systems along with associated engineering support package at an overall cost of ₹412 crore for the Indian Navy, the ministry stated. Sarang, said the ministry, is an advanced electronic support measure system for helicopters of the Indian Navy, designed and developed indigenously by Defence Electronics Research Laboratory, Hyderabad, under programme ‘Samudrika’. The scheme will generate an employment of approximately two lakh man-days over a period of three years. Other than that, both the projects will encourage participation of Indian electronics and associated industries, including MSMEs, who are sub-vendors of the BEL, believes the MoD.
The ministry’s contract with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a Central Public Sector Enterprise under Department of Space, Bengaluru, is for procurement of an advanced communication satellite, GSAT 7B, which will provide high throughput services to the Indian Army, at an overall cost of ₹2,963 crore. The Army expects that its communication capabilities will go up by having a dedicated satellite as it would provide mission critical beyond line of sight information and images to troops and formations as well as for weapon and airborne platforms. The geostationary satellite, being a first-of-its-kind in the five-tonne category, will be developed indigenously by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the ministry revealed.
Many parts and sub-assemblies and systems will be sourced from indigenous manufacturers, including MSMEs and start-ups, thereby giving a fillip to the private Indian space industry, in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, said the MoD. The project will generate an employment of approximately three lakh man-days over a period of three-and-half years, it added.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.