Army to get 1.86 lakh BP jackets

After years of delay and much public criticism, the government has concluded a major contract for purchasing almost two lakh bullet proof jackets for the Army.

“A major contract through capital procurement route, for procurement of 1,86,138 Bullet Proof Jackets (BPJs) has been signed. The impending requirement of the Indian Army for effective BPJs, has been met after successful conduct of stringent field evaluation trials,” the Army said in a statement on Monday.

Over the past several years, many of the fatal Army injuries have been blamed on lack of modern BPJs for the soldiers. The Army has a total projected requirement of 3.53 lakh jackets. In March 2016, Army had procured 50,000 jackets on an urgent basis.

Three Indian bidders

Late last year, all three bidding Indian companies qualified the field trials. The procurement is worth over ₹1000 crore.

“The contracted BPJs have contemporary and state-of-the-art specifications with added protectional level and coverage area,” the Army said.

It said the jackets have modular parts, which will provide “immense protection and flexibility to soldiers operating in different operational situations ranging from long distance patrolling to high risk room intervention scenarios.”

The new BPJs will provide 360 degree protection to the soldier in combat, including from latest hard steel core bullets, it said.

“The provisioning of this operationally urgent and very critical equipment concerning personal ballistic protection, will boost the confidence of the soldier and provide moral ascendency to security forces,” Army claimed.

The contract has been processed under ‘Buy Indian’ category.