India will soon give the primary nod to three huge indigenous projects which will ultimately boost the nation’s defence capabilities, reported The Times of India citing sources. These projects are: Manufacturing an aircraft carrier as well as 97 Tejas fighter aircraft and 156 Prachand light combat helicopters. The three projects will reportedly be worth around Rs 1.4 lakh crore (USD 516 billion).
The news outlet has said that the Indian Defence Acquisitions Council, headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will greenlight these three projects in a meeting due to take place on November 30. In this meeting, the ‘acceptance of necessity’ (AoN) phase will be carried out. This is the first step in the process of procurement.
The mega-projects will take years to complete, but upon conclusion, they will have given a boost to the Indian armed forces’ operational preparedness. The focus on defence capabilities is crucial for India as its northern neighbour China is fast building its capacity for a multi-domain warfare system.
India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is readying India’s own ‘Iron Dome’, the long-range Air Defence System (LR-SAM). It will be ready by 2028-2029.
India has already placed an order for 83 Tejas jets with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). And addition of 97 jets will now be made to the previous order.
Indian Air Force (IAF) has over the years stated that its aim is to be capable of defending the country in case of a ‘two-front war’, that is, on the Sino-Indian border as well as the Indo-Pakistan border. The addition of 180 Tejas fighter aircraft will be a huge step in IAF’s preparedness in this direction. In order to wage a two-front war, the IAF needs 42 squadrons but currently, it only has 31.
It has been reported that the first 83 Mark-1A jets are due to be delivered to the Air Force between February 2024 to February 2028.
The second indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-2) will take 8 to 10 years to be built at Cochin Shipyard. India will spend Rs 44,000 crore (USD 5.2 billion) for the aircraft carrier.
India currently has two aircraft carriers. INS Vikrant was commissioned in September 2022. It will be fully ready for combat by the year 2024. The second one, INS Vikramaditya is the refurbished Admiral Gorshkov which was inducted into the navy in 2013.
The 156 Prachand helicopters, which will be manufactured, would boost India’s capability to operate in high-altitude regions like the Siachen glacier.
