Several military platforms like the Light Combat Aircraft, Pinaka rocket launchers and Akash missile systems, which have been indigenously developed, were included in the negative list of imports to ensure that the Services do not go in for procurement of similar systems by imports, the Defence Ministry said on Monday.
“It is also highlighted that for a product to be considered as an indigenous system, the percentage of indigenous content has to meet minimum laid down specifications. Hence, manufacturers are also required to ensure indigenisation and decrease import content to the permissible limits,” the Ministry said. The reason for specifying systems presently made in India with part-import content is to ban procurement of such equipment or items which carry similar qualitative requirements but are often contracted under differing nomenclatures, it said.
On Sunday, the Defence Ministry issued a 101-item negative defence import list which must be domestically procured in a phased manner.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday launched the “Atmanirbharta Saptah” and said it was to focus on modernisation of defence infrastructure, creation of new manufacturing capability and investments. “In the use of cutting-edge technologies across the world, defence industries have always been ahead. The technologies are also used in civil areas. Therefore, being self-reliant in the sector can be very beneficial for civil society also,” Mr. Singh said. “Self-sufficient is never meant to separate oneself from the world.”
3 facilities of Ordnance Factory Board inaugurated
Mr. Singh inaugurated three facilities of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and BEML’s (Bharat Earth Movers Limited) Industrial Design Centre at its Bangalore Complex. The three facilities include manufacturing facility for sighting devices for T-90 Tanks at the Opto Electronics Factory, Dehradun, automated assembly line for the production of Pinaka Rockets at the Ordnance Factory, Chandrapur and assembly and testing facility of Stabilised Remote Controlled Gun (SRCG) at the Ordnance Factory, Tiruchirappalli.
The automated Pinaka assembly will not only enhance the production capacity but would also be more efficient as it seeks to do away with most of the manual operations, the OFB said in a statement.