With the objective of adding teeth to the firepower capabilities of the Navy, the Defence Ministry on Saturday approved procurement of Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles for two stealth frigates to be acquired from Russia. Nod was also given for acquisition of armoured recovery vehicles(ARV) for the Army's Arjun main battle tanks. The cost of two proposals is worth over Rs 3,000 crores.
The go-ahead for both the acquisitions was given by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the Ministry's highest decision-making body on procurement. It is headed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the DAC accorded approval for acquisition of defence equipment worth about Rs 3,000 crore, officials said.
India is procuring two stealth frigates at a cost of USD 1 billion and both the ships will be equipped with indigenously developed BrahMos missiles. "The indigenously designed Brahmos missile is a tested and proven supersonic cruise missile and will form the primary weapon on-board these ships," they said.
In fact all the frontline warships of the Navy are now equipped with this missile, a joint venture between India and Russia. Besides, the Army has also deployed Brahmos missiles which can hit a target at more than 300 km. The air version of this missile to be fired from the frontline SU-30 was also successfully tested some months back and will be ready for operational use after some more validation tests.
As regards fitting the missiles on the new warships, in October 2016, India and Russia signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for four Krivak or Talwar stealth frigates — two to be procured directly from Russia and two to be built indigenously.
Two commercial deals were signed recently for the frigates.
The basic structures of two frigates are already ready at Yantar shipyard in Russia and will be finished now following the $1 bn deal. Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) recenty signed a $500 million deal with Rosoboronexport of Russia for material, design and specialists assistance to build two frigates in India.
The DAC also approved the procurement of Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARVs) for the Indian Army's main battle tank, Arjun.
The ARVs are designed and developed by the DRDO and would be manufactured by defence public sector undertaking BEML, the official said. The recovery vehicles ensure efficient and speedy repair and recovery operations during combat.
