Govt okays procurement of navigation system for armoured fighting vehicles

The defence ministry on Monday approved procurement of navigation system for armoured fighting vehicles of the Indian Army and 22 interceptor boats for the Coast Guard.

The acquisition proposals were cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) that was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The cost of the procurement of the navigation system and the interceptor boats is not immediately known.

The DAC deliberated on a number of other capital acquisition proposals, the defence ministry said without elaborating.

"Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) was accorded to the procurement of Advanced Land Navigation System (ALNS) for Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) of the Indian Army. The system is spoof-proof with high levels of encryption," it said.

It said the ALNS Mk-II is compatible with Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, NAVigation using Indian Constellation in addition to Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global Navigation Satellite System.

The ministry said ALNS Mk-II offers compatibility with defence series maps resulting in very high accuracy in navigational applications for AFVs.

"This equipment will be procured from Bharat Electronics Limited, Chennai, under Buy Indian-Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (lDDM) category," it said in a statement.

The ministry said the DAC also cleared a proposal to procure 22 interceptor boats for the Coast Guard.

"In order to enhance the capabilities of the Indian Coast Guard, the DAC accorded AoN for procurement of 22 Interceptor Boats with the latest state-of-art system capable of quick interception and shallow water operation in territorial waters," it said.

"These boats will be used for coastal surveillance and patrolling, search and rescue operations, including medical evacuation," it said.