Giving a boost to self-reliance in defence manufacturing, Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Wednesday here signed contracts worth Rs 6,900 Crores with Bharat Forge Limited and Tata Advanced System Limited for the procurement of 155mm/52 Calibre Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems (ATAGS) and High Mobility Vehicle 6x6 Gun Towing Vehicles respectively.
Giving details, officials said the contracts were signed in the presence of Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh.
They also said with the signing, total contracts worth Rs 1.40 Lakh Crore have been signed by MoD for capital procurement till date in the current Financial Year 2024-25.
During the contract signing, the Project Director of ATAGS from DRDO’s Armament Research and Development Establishment, Pune who played a pivotal role in the realisation of the project was felicitated by the Defence Secretary as an honour for his immense contribution.
The 155 mm/52 Calibre ATAGS will replace the vintage and smaller calibre guns and enhance the artillery capabilities of the Indian Army.
The procurement of this gun system marks a significant milestone in the modernisation of the Artillery Regiments, enhancing operational readiness. ATAGS, renowned for its exceptional lethality, will play a crucial role in bolstering the Army’s firepower by enabling precise and long-range strikes. Being the first major procurement of towed guns from the private sector by the Indian Army, the project will provide a boost to the Indian gun manufacturing industry in particular and the indigenous defence manufacturing eco-system as a whole.
Senior defence ministry officials have held deliberations with “bigwigs” from over 50 start-ups and MSMEs to understand key challenges affecting these ventures, and support them in accelerating innovation. The brainstorming sessions, under the chairmanship of Secretary (defence production) Sanjeev Kumar, were held here on March 24 and 25, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Most of the start-ups and MSMEs, which attended the sessions, are engaged with Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), it said.
Insightful deliberations across critical and emerging technology domains such as space technologies, quantum technologies, electronic warfare, drones, artificial intelligence and machine learning helped in understanding their potential applications in both civil and defence sectors, it said.
Secretary (defence production) Kumar said such sessions would help the ministry in understanding the perspective of the industry, particularly new technology start-ups.
It would help in fine-tuning the policies and procedures, leading to wider participation of start-ups working in deep tech, he said.
