Rs 387.44 Cr deal for indigenous hovercrafts for Coast Guard
The Ministry of Defence signed a contract with a Goa based private company for the procurement of six Air Cushion Vehicles (ACVs), also known as hovercrafts, for the Indian Coast Guard.
In yet another boost to ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence, the government on Wednesday signed three contracts – two with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Ghaziabad and one with New Space India Limited (NSIL) – at a total cost of nearly Rs 5,400 crore to bolster the defence capabilities of the country.
The first contract with BEL pertains to the procurement of the Automated Air Defence Control & Reporting System ‘Project Akashteer’ worth Rs 1,982 crore for the Indian Army. The second contract with BEL relates to the acquisition of Sarang Electronic Support Measure (ESM) systems along with the associated Engineering Support Package from BEL, Hyderabad at an overall cost of Rs 412 crore for the Indian Navy.
The contract with NSIL, a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Department of Space, Bengaluru pertains to the procurement of an advanced Communication Satellite, GSAT 7B, which will provide High ‘Throughput Services’ to the Indian Army at an overall cost of Rs 2,963 crores. All these projects are under the Buy {Indian – IDMM (Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured)} category.
Advertisement
The Automated Air Defence Control & Reporting System ‘Project Akashteer’ will empower the Air Defence units of the Indian Army with an indigenous, state-of-the-art capability, to effectively operate in an integrated manner. Akashteer will enable monitoring of low-level airspace over the battle areas of the Indian Army and effectively control the Ground Based Air Defence Weapon Systems.
Sarang is an advanced Electronic Support Measure system for helicopters of the Indian Navy, designed and developed indigenously by the Defence Electronics Research Laboratory, Hyderabad under the programme Samudrika. The scheme will generate employment of approximately two lakh man-days over a period of three years.
Both the projects will encourage the participation of Indian Electronics and associated industries, including MSMEs, who are sub-vendors of BEL, the Ministry of Defence said.
Advertisement
