Dec 23: Capital procurement of defence equipment is undertaken by various domestic as well as foreign vendors, based on threat perception, operational challenges and technological changes so as to keep the Armed Forces in a state of readiness.
During the last three financial years (2019-20 to 2021-22) and current financial year 2022-23 (upto November 2022), a total of 166 contracts have been signed for capital procurement of defence equipment, out of which, 112 contracts accounting for 69.86 % of total contracts value have been signed with Indian vendors for capital procurement of defence equipment.
During the same period {2019-20 to 2022-23 (upto November 2022)}, Government has accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to a total of 200 proposals worth about Rs 2,95,034 crore for capital procurement of defence equipment, out of which 172 proposals worth about Rs 2,57,141 crore (87.15%), have been approved for sourcing from indigenous manufacturers. Acquisition of defence equipment from domestic manufacturers is an important step in the direction of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
Eleven Public/Private Institutions have been declared as Institute of Eminence (IoE) for teaching & research by the Govt. of India, Ministry of Education. Directorate General (Technology Management) is responsible for promoting research on the topics for defence applications under Grant-in-Aid schemes of DRDO [namely (Directorate of Futuristic Technology Management (DFTM), Extramural Research & Intellectual Property Rights (ER&IPR), Aeronautics R&D Board (AR&DB), Naval Research Board (NRB), Life Sciences Research Board (LSRB) & Armaments Research Board (ARMREB)].
DRDO has given research projects on defence applications to different institutions through the above-mentioned schemes. Further, DRDO has established the DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellences (DIA-CoEs) in below seven IoEs: –
- DIA-COE, IIT Delhi
- DIA-COE, IIT Bombay
- DIA-COE, University of Hyderabad
- DIA-RCOE, IISC Bangalore
- DIA-RCOE, IIT Madras
- DIA-COE, IIT BHU
- DIA-COE, IIT Kharagpur
