DAC to discuss Navy's Rs 25,000 crore warship proposal

A Rs 25,000 crore proposal of the Navy for procuring four large amphibious warfare vessels is expected to be considered by the Defence Ministry here tomorrow.

A meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister A K Antony is also expected to approve amendments in the procurement procedure to give a bigger role to the indigenous industry for supplying military hardware to the armed forces.

"We are looking to add four more Landing Platform Decks (LPDs) in our fleet to operate alongside INS Jalashwa, the only LPD currently in service. The proposal is expected to come up for discussion at the DAC meeting tomorrow," a Navy official told PTI here.

The procurement procedure has already begun with the release of the Request for Information (RFI) by the defence ministry, they said.

The four warships would be procured under the 'Buy and Make (Indian)' category of the defence procurement procedure under which the Indian shipyards, both private and public, would be required to form a partnership with foreign shipyards for the contract.

The Navy would use the warships to transport Main Battle Tanks (MBTs), heavy trucks, armoured personnel vehicles and other heavy machinery along with big troop contingents.

Under the DPP amendments, the Ministry will further ease the 'Buy and Make (Indian)' category under which Indian firms are asked to have tie ups with foreign vendors to produce weapon systems indigenously.

As part of this, the firms would be asked to "achieve" 50 per cent of the cost of the system produced by it in joint venture.

The Ministry is planning to give the 'right of first refusal' to the domestic industry before the armed forces are allowed to look at the import option for procuring weapon systems.