MoD inks Rs 2,000 crore deal with BEL for air defence radars; Rs 500 crore boost for deep-tech projects
The MoD said the contract was signed and exchanged by senior officials of the Ministry and BEL in the presence of Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh in New Delhi.
As per the MoD, these fire control radars will have a minimum 70% indigenous content and 'will be able to detect all forms of airborne threats, including fighter aircraft, attack helicopters and enemy drones.'
This procurement, the MoD said, 'marks a significant milestone in the modernisation of the Air Defence Regiments and enhances the Indian Army's operational readiness, while contributing to the economic growth of the nation.'
The MoD defines the Buy (Indian–IDDM) category as the 'procurement of products from an Indian vendor that have been indigenously designed, developed and manufactured with a minimum of 50% Indigenous Content (IC) on cost basis of the total contract value.'
It further added that the move 'marks a pivotal step towards empowering indigenous defence industries by encouraging Indian MSMEs through components' manufacturing and raw material supply.'
In a separate development on Friday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved an additional corpus of Rs 500 crore to support deep-tech and cutting-edge projects as separate verticals under the Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme. The information was shared by Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth in a written reply to MP Naveen Jindal in the Lok Sabha.
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