The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Friday accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN), the first step in the procurement process, for proposals worth ₹84,560 crore. The proposals include some long-pending deals such as for heavy weight torpedoes (HWT) for the Navy’s Scorpene-class submarines and flight refueller aircraft (FRA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Other major deals include medium range maritime reconnaissance and multi-mission maritime aircraft for the Navy and the Coast Guard, new generation anti-tank mines, air defence tactical control radar, and software defined radios.
“Further, to keep the Indian naval ships one step ahead of the threats posed by the adversaries, the AoN under Buy (Indian) category has been accorded for procurement of active towed array Sonar having capabilities to operate at low frequencies and various depths for long-range detections of adversary submarines. The AoN has also been accorded for procurement of HWT for enhancing the attacking capabilities of Kalvari class submarines,” the Ministry said. “The DAC accorded AoN for procurement of FRA for enhancing the operational capabilities and the reach of the IAF.”
