Defence panel clears upgradation of Army's armoured vehicles

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday cleared proposals worth around Rs 2,800 crore, including one to upgrade armoured vehicles to make them night-fighting capable.

According to Defence Ministry sources, the DAC cleared the upgradation and modernisation of armoured fighting vehicles or BMPs under the "Buy Indian" or Indigenous Design Development and Manufacturing (IDDM) category.

BMPs are infantry fighting vehicle also used to transport troops.

"The Ordnance Factory at Medak will provide these upgrades to render the armoured vehicles night-fighting capable and achieve better accuracy," the source said.

India has around 2,750 BMPs made in collaboration with Russia. It was however not clear how many BMPs are to be upgraded.

The DAC also cleared a carrier command post tracked vehicle for technical control of artillery fire at a cost of Rs 406 crore. Such a vehicle is equipped with radars and other electronic systems to guide precise fire and act as centralised command facility.

According to sources, these vehicles will also be equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

These vehicles will also be procured from Ordnance factory in Medak, Telangana.

The DAC also reviewed the status and progress of other procurement and accorded directions to ensure smooth progress for these capital acquisition process, the source added.

--IANS

ao/vd