The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the highest decision-making body in the Indian Defence Ministry for deciding on capital acquisitions, is set to review two significant defence proposals with a cumulative budget exceeding Ras 1 lakh crore, as it is expected to meet at the end of this month.
Notably, these proposals come from the Indian Navy (IN) and the Indian Air Force (IAF).
While, the Navy’s proposal is for second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC)-II, and is estimated to cost approximately Rs 40,000 crore.
On the other hand, the IAF’s proposal is for 97 additional Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-MK1A fighters which is estimated to cost around Rs 67,000 crore.
Both the proposals, for a second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC)-II and 97 LCA-MK1A, have already been cleared by the Defence Procurement Board (DPB) and are expected to be taken up by the DAC at its next meeting scheduled for end of this month.
Reportedly, the proposal for IAC-II was cleared by the DPB in mid-September.
The IAC-II displacing 45,000 tonnes will see some modifications and newer technologies incorporated in the original design of the country’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) INS Vikrant, which was commissioned in September 2022 and will also be manufactured by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/
