Indian Army calls upon domestic firms for critical equipment procurement

The Indian Army on September 18 invited domestic defence firms to offer critical equipment for emergency procurement.

The army has sought offers from these firms for guns, missiles, drones, counter-drone, loiter munition, communication and optical systems, specialist vehicles, engineering equipment and alternative energy resources.

"Indian Army invites Indian defence industry to offer critical defence equipment for emergency procurement. Proposals fielded for guns, missiles, drones, counter-drone, loiter munition, communication & optical systems, specialist Vehicles, engg equipment & alt energy resources," the Army said.

Also Read | Decoded: What is National Logistics Policy and how will it get implemented?

In addition to this the Army conveyed that the process of procurement will follow compressed timelines. The procurement window will be open to Indian firms for 6 months and  they would be expected to deliver equipment within a year of signing the contract and the procurement cases will be based on Open Tender Enquiry. 

This development follows the June clearence from the Defence Acquisition Council for capital acquisition proposals of the Armed Forces amounting to Rs 76,390 crore to ‘Buy (Indian)’, ‘Buy & Make (Indian)’ and ‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’ categories.

The Indian government has been working towards including more indigenous system in the Indian forces. 

"Government is committed to create a robust, secure, speedy and 'Aatmanirbhar' logistics system to effectively deal with future security challenges and take the country to greater heights," said the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh a few days ago in a seminar Logistics and further discussed ways to make the system self-reliant.
 

While speaking at the seminar, Singh spoke of the synergy needed between civil and military stakeholders, and asserted that presence of representatives from different sectors of the two sides showed the "commitment" to achieve the goal as India stood on the threshold of an 'Amrit Kaal'.