The Defence Ministry approved several major acquisition proposals worth over Rs 52,000 crore. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was attended for the first time by newly-appointed Chief of Defence Staff Gen Raja Subramani, Army Chief Gen Dhiraj Seth and Navy Chief Admiral Krishna Swaminathan in their current positions.In keeping up with the threats of drones, the DAC has cleared the procurement of the Akash Tarang anti-unmanned aerial vehicles electronic warfare system. The procurement of Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MP-ATGM), designed and developed indigenously by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, has also been cleared by the DAC. This third generation anti-tank missile has a range of 4km and has the ability to be fired in the top attack mode, where the missile will hit the top of the tank where the armour is the weakest.The defence minister chaired body has also cleared the procurement of additional Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MR-SAM). This missile has a range of 70 km and can take down aerial threats such as fighters, UAVs, helicopters and cruise missile. It is reported that this missile downed a Pakistani Fatah-II rocket over Sirsa during Operation Sindoor.The defence ministry has also cleared from its end the procurement of the Very Short Range Air Defence System (V-SHORADS). This short range missile system plays the role of point defence. These man-portable systems can defend against low flying fighters, helicopters and UAVs. In Ukraine these systems have also demonstrated their effectiveness against cruise missiles.The procurement of Active Protection System (APS) to defend tanks from projectiles has also been cleared. An APS works by first detecting and then intercepting a projectile fired towards a tank. Kamikaze drones powered by jet engines have also been cleared.The Defence Ministry approved key proposals for both the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. For the Navy, acquisitions included the Multi Influence Ground Mine (MIGM), Naval Shipborne Unmanned Aerial System (NSUAS), and a Land Based Testing Facility (LBTF) for Electric Propulsion Systems. MIGM was designed to restrict adversary manoeuvre, NSUAS enhanced situational awareness with advanced sensors, and LBTF supported propulsion system testing. For the Air Force, approval was given for Fixed-Wing Based High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (FW-HAPS), which provided persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, telecommunication, and remote sensing capabilities.
