Defence Minister to Review Services’ Emergency Weapon Acqusitions for War Preparedness

Aiming to equip the armed forces for being ready for war-like situations similar to the post-Pulwama attack scenario, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will review the emergency weapon system acquisition by armed forces in the last few months.

The Minister will review the acquisitions done by the armed forces in recent times and the ways of further speeding up the future procurements shortly where all three services will brief him on their respective needs and deals signed by them, Defence Ministry sources said.

In the recent past, after the Pulwama attack, the Narendra Modi government has given emergency powers to the three services to buy whatever equipment is required by them for safeguarding the borders with Pakistan.

Under the powers given to the three services they can buy the equipment of their choice within three months at the cost of up to Rs 300 crore per case. The Air Force has also shown interest in the acquisition of certain missiles from the international market which would help it in meeting requirements, in case of hostilities on borders.

For the procurement under the emergency orders, the forces need not to even take concurrence of the Integrated Financial Advisor from the defence finance department.The defence Ministry feels that since the forces have to fight wars, they should decide on their requirement and priority in the acquisition and buy that equipment. Recently, the Air Force has acquired the Spice 2000 missiles which were acquired for carrying out bunker busting operations.

The force has also signed deals for acquiring Russian air to air missiles like the R-27, R-77 and RVAAE which can destroy the enemy aircraft from ranges between 30 km to 60 km.

The Army has acquired Spike anti tank guided missiles along with the Igla man portable air defence missiles which can be used for guarding air space close to the borders.

Source: IT

Image Courtesy:Military Watch Magazine