Indian Ministry of Defence has revealed that its Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), in a meeting held on 6 June, gave initial approval to military modernization projects including the purchase of eight next-generation corvettes.
As disclosed, for the Indian Navy, the DAC accorded acceptance of necessity (AoN) for procurement of next-generation corvettes (NGC) at an estimated cost of approx. Rs 36,000 crore (around $4.6 billion).
As emphasized by the officials, these corvettes will be versatile platforms for a variety of roles including surveillance missions, escort operations, deterrence, surface action group (SAG) operations, search and attack and coastal defence.
Furthermore, these vessels would be constructed based on new in-house design of the Indian Navy using latest technology of shipbuilding.
Under the new military program worth Rs 76,390 Crore ($9.8 billion), the government also approved the Digital Coast Guard project under the Buy (Indian) Category . Under this project, an Indian secure network for digitizing of various surface and aviation operations, logistics, finance and HR processes in the Coast Guard will be established.
To remind, a few months ago, the Indian Navy decommissioned its first indigenously built missile corvette INS Khukri after 32 years of service.
The new military program will substantially boost the Indian Defence Industry and reduce foreign spending significantly, the officials stressed.