Rs 5,400 crore to bolster defence capabilities of Army and Navy

New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) In yet another boost to 'Aatmanirbharta' in defence, the Ministry of Defence signed three contracts on Wednesday, two with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Ghaziabad and one with New Space India Limited (NSIL) amounting to nearly Rs 5,400 crore to bolster the defence capabilities of the country.

According to the defence ministry the first contract with BEL pertains to procurement of Automated Air Defence Control and Reporting System 'Project Akashteer' worth Rs 1,982 crore for the Army. The second contract with BEL relates to acquisition of Sarang Electronic Support Measure (ESM) systems along with associated Engineering Support Package from BEL, Hyderabad at an overall cost of Rs 412 crore for the Navy.

The contract with NSIL, a central public sector enterprise under the Department of Space, Bengaluru, pertains to procurement of an advanced Communication Satellite, GSAT 7B, which will provide High Throughput Services to the Army at an overall cost of Rs 2,963 crore. All these projects are under Buy Indian Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured category, a defence ministry official said.

The defence ministry said that the Automated Air Defence Control and Reporting System will empower the air defence units of the 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 and effectively control the Ground Based Air Defence Weapon Systems.

The official said that the Sarang is an advanced Electronic Support Measure system for Navy helicopters, designed and developed indigenously by the Defence Electronics Research Laboratory, Hyderabad, under the Samudrika programme. The scheme will generate employment of approximately two lakh man days over a period of three years, the defence ministry official added.

The defence ministry said that both the projects will encourage participation of the Indian electronics sector and associated industries, including MSMEs, who are sub vendors of BEL.

The satellite will considerably enhance the communication capability of the Army by providing mission critical beyond line of sight communication to troops and formations as well as weapon and airborne platforms. The geostationary satellite, being a first-of-its-kind in the five-tonne category, will be developed indigenously by the Indian Space Research Organisation.

Many parts and sub-assemblies and systems will be sourced from indigenous manufacturers, including MSMEs and start-ups, thereby giving a fillip to the private Indian space industry, in line with 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'. Defence ministry officials said that the project will generate employment of approximately three lakh man days over three and a half years.

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