Ministry of Defence pushes for indigenous buys, inks deal worth Rs 32,000 crore

NEW DELHI: In a major push to the induction of indigenous arms and equipment along northern borders and raise the combat capabilities of the Indian Navy, the Ministry of Defence on Thursday signed four contracts worth more than Rs 32,000 crore that includes missiles for the Army, and next generation offshore patrol vessels (NGOPV) and missile vessels for the Navy.

The signed contracts include 11 NGOPV and six Next Generation Missile Vessels (NGMV) to be constructed by Indian shipyards at an overall cost of about Rs 19,600 crore. Another contract worth Rs 9,100 crore includes the one for procurement of an improved Akash Weapon System and 12 Weapon Locating Radars (WLR), WLR Swathi (Plains) for the Indian Army. One more deal includes with BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd for Next Generation Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries (long range) and BrahMos missiles worth Rs 1,700 crore.

The Indian Navy has signed yet another contract for the supply of 13 fire control systems (Lynx-U2) at a total cost of over Rs 1,700 crore. These are to be supplied by Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited. Three different Indian shipyards have been engaged to manufacture the Indian naval ships. The contract for the acquisition of 11 NGOPVs under ‘buy Indian’ category was signed with Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata at a total cost of Rs 9,781 crore.

Of the 11 ships, seven will be indigenously designed, developed & manufactured by GSL and four by GRSE. The delivery of the ships is scheduled to begin from September 2026. The acquisition of NGOPVs will enable “the Indian Navy to maintain its combat capability and meet various operational requirements such as anti-piracy, counter-infiltration, anti-poaching, anti-trafficking, non-combatant evacuation operations, search and rescue (SAR), and protection of offshore assets etc.” said MoD. The construction of these ships will generate employment of 110 lakh man-days over a period of seven and half years.