Acquisition of Military Equipment: India has purchased Rs 1.93 lakh crore worth of military equipment from abroad in the past five years. Major imported defense equipment includes helicopters, aircraft radar, rockets, guns, assault rifles, missiles, and ammunition. On Friday (Feb 3), Minister of State for Defense Ajay Bhatt gave this information in Lok Sabha.
According to the PTI news agency, the figures presented by the Minister of State for Defense regarding the purchase of military material correspond to the period 2017-18 to 2021-22. With this, the Minister said that with a focus on ‘Self-reliant India’ and ‘Make in India’, the Defense Acquisition Procedure (DAP 2020) launched major policy initiatives to enhance indigenous defense capability and reduce the dependency on imports. made
‘Acquisition of global equipment only in exceptional circumstances’
In a written response, the minister further said that the Defense Acquisition Procedure (DAP 2020) gives preference to purchasing Indian-grade equipment. At the same time, the Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) and the Minister of Defense grant permission for the purchase of global equipment (Buy Global) only in exceptional circumstances.
When and how much did it cost to obtain military material from abroad?
Data related to the purchase of military equipment abroad, provided by Bhatt, shows that Rs 30,677.29 crore worth of military equipment was purchased in 2017-18. Military equipment worth Rs 38,115.60 crore was procured in 2018-19, Rs 40,330.02 crore in 2019-20, Rs 43,916.37 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 40,839.53 crore in 2021-22. The total amount spent under this concept in five years is Rs 1,93,878.81 crore.
With which countries have agreements been signed for the purchase of defense equipment?
The minister reported that during the last five fiscal years (2017-18 to 2021-2022) and the current fiscal year 2022-23 (until December 2022), a total of 264 capital acquisition agreements were signed for the purchase of military equipment. Of these, 88 agreements (36.26 percent of the total value) were signed with suppliers from countries such as the US, Russia, France, Israel, etc.
In response to a question, Bhatt said that the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is working on 55 mission mode projects with a sanctioned total of Rs 73,942.82 crore.
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