In a major boost to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s clarion call for ‘Aatmanirbharta’, Ministry of Defence (MoD), in a landmark step, has offered four projects to the Indian Industry for design & development under Make-I category of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020. The industry will be provided financial support for prototype development of these projects. The list of projects which were accorded ‘Approval In-Principle (AIP)’ by Collegiate Committee of MoD is as follow:

• Indian Air Force: Communication Equipment with Indian Security Protocols (Routers, Switches, Encryptors, VoIP Phones and their software)
• Indian Air Force: Airborne Electro Optical pod with Ground Based System
• Indian Air Force: Airborne Stand-off Jammer
• Indian Army: Indian Light Tank

This is for the first time since the launch of industry-friendly DAP-2020 that Indian Industry has been involved in development of big ticket platforms such as Light tank and Communication Equipment with Indian security protocols.

In addition, AIP has also been accorded to following five projects under industry-funded Make-II procedure:

• Indian Air Force: Full Motion Simulator for Apache Helicopter
• Indian Air Force: Full Motion Simulator for Chinook Helicopter
• Indian Air Force: Wearable Robotic Equipment for Aircraft Maintenance
• Indian Army: Integrated Surveillance and Targeting System for Mechanised Forces
• Indian Army: Autonomous Combat Vehicle

Projects under 'Make-II' category involve prototype development of equipment/system/platform or their upgrades or their sub-systems/sub-assembly/assemblies/components, primarily for import substitution/innovative solutions, for which no Government funding will be provided for prototype development purposes.

The indigenous development of these projects in the country will help harness the design capabilities of Indian defence Industry and position India as a design leader in these technologies.

ABB/Savvy