DRDO done 233 projects in past three years
Fifty-six proposals have been accorded ‘Approval in Principal’ under the industry-funded Make-II category which includes design & development and innovative solutions by Indian vendor, for which no Government funding is provided, but it has assurance of procurement on successful prototype development, Rajya Sabha was told on 22 Mar 2021.
Twenty-three of these proposals have been accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN), Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said in a written reply to the upper house.
As on date, there are 4 ongoing projects under the Government-funded Make-I category which involves design and development of equipment, systems, major platforms or upgrades thereof by the industry. Ministry provides financial support up to 70% of prototype development cost or maximum Rs.250 crores per Development Agency (DA), he said.
The proposals for indigenous design and manufacturing are considered under ‘Make’ Procedure of DAP-2020. The ‘Make’ Procedure aims to achieve the objective of self-reliance by involving greater participation of Indian industries including private sector through following mechanisms, he explained.
In addition, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has also undertaken 233 projects during the past three years since 2018. The projects include new defence equipment such as Cruise missile, Hypersonic missile, Anti-Ship missile, Extended Range Anti-Submarine Rocket, Mounted Gun System, Ammunitions, Electronic Warfare system, Radars, Torpedos, High Endurance Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, etc.
AoN has been accorded for 45 DRDO developed systems during last three years since 2018 for induction into Services.
Further, in order to promote indigenous design and development of defence equipment ‘Buy {Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)}’ category under DAP is accorded top most priority for procurement of capital equipment.
The Defence Ministry has notified a ‘Negative list’ of 101 identified items for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timeline indicated against them. This is a big step towards self-reliance in defence. This offers a great opportunity to the Indian defence industry to manufacture these items indigenously and develop capabilities to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces.
This list includes some high technology weapon systems like artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, transport aircrafts, light combat helicopters (LCHs), radars etc. to fulfil the needs of our Defence Services.
Further, an indigenization portal, SRIJAN which was launched in August 2020 for Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and Services with an industry interface to provide development support to MSMEs, Startups, Industry for import substitution.
As on date, 9,370 Defence items, which were earlier imported, have been displayed on the portal.
The Indian industry has shown interest for 1,864 displayed items so far. The items displayed on the SRIJAN Portal have well structured description including specification, images, business volume etc., said Naik. #makeinindia #manufacturing #investment #exports /fiinews.com
