The Indian Army plans to induct 1,770 future-ready combat vehicles to modernise the armoured corps at a cost of around ₹60,000 crore

The defence acquisition council (DAC) on Tuesday gave its go-ahead to the procurement of military hardware worth Rs145 lakh crore to sharpen the country’s defence readiness with locally made future-ready combat vehicles (FRCVs), air defence fire control radars, aircraft, and fast attack and offshore patrol vessels, the defence ministry announced.

The FRCVs form the centrepiece of the projects cleared by the government.

“For modernisation of the tank fleet, the proposal for procurement of FRCVs has been cleared. It will be a futuristic main battle tank with superior mobility, all terrain ability, multi-layered protection, precision, lethal firepower and real-time situational awareness,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh chaired the meeting of DAC, the country’s apex military procurement, which gave its acceptance of necessity (AoN) for 10 capital acquisition proposals worth ₹1,44,716 crore. Under India’s defence procurement rules, AoN by the council is the first step towards buying military equipment.

Indigenous sources will account for 99% of the total value of the projects cleared by DAC under the Buy (Indian) and Buy (Indian-IDDM) categories. The Indian-IDDM category is the most important category of acquisition for indigenisation under the defence procurement policy. IDDM stands for indigenously designed, developed and manufactured.

DAC approved the purchase of air defence fire control radars to detect, track and engage aerial targets, the ministry said. Equipment, with cross-country mobility, for carrying out repair of armoured and mechanised infantry platforms was also cleared.

Called ‘forward repair team (tracked), this equipment will be produced by Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited, one of the seven new defence companies carved out of the erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) three years ago in a long-awaited reform in the country’s defence manufacturing sector.

Three proposals were cleared to boost the capabilities of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).

“The procurement of Dornier-228 aircraft, next-generation fast patrol vessels having high operational features in rough weather conditions, and next-generation offshore patrol vessels with advanced technology and enhanced long-range operations will enhance the capability of ICG to carry out surveillance, patrolling of maritime zone, search and rescue, and disaster relief operations,” the statement added.

According to an army note, the FRCV, with capability to act as a multiple weapon platform along with infusion of niche technology, will cater for the future capability requirements and enhance the overall operational effectiveness index of the Indian Army.

It will offer multiple options for rapid operational employment enabling the army to execute operations across the entire continuum of conflict against diverse threats and equipment profile of the adversaries, the note said. “The FRCV would be in-service for the next 35 to 45 years and, therefore, should be designed to deliver the highest lethality, survivability and agility on the battlefield combined with a fully digitised data backbone architecture to enable next-generation operational capabilities and automation.”

The FRCVs are expected to be inducted in three phases.

Self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector is one of the government’s top priorities. India has taken a raft of measures to boost self-reliance, with phased bans on the import of hundreds of weapons and systems, and thousands of sub-systems and components topping the list.

The other steps include creating a separate budget for buying locally made military hardware, increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) from 49% to 74% and improving ease of doing business.

In July, India set aside almost ₹6.22 lakh crore for defence spending in the union budget for 2024-25, with the chunk of the modernisation outlay allocated for buying weapons, systems and equipment from domestic suppliers to achieve the self-reliance goal.

This year’s allocation (₹6,21,940.85 crore) includes a revenue expenditure of ₹2.82 lakh crore, a capital expenditure of ₹1.72 lakh crore and a pension outlay of ₹1.41 lakh crore. The capital outlay includes ₹1.05 lakh crore for domestic procurement.