Spurred on by the 'Make in India' initiative, the DAC provided approval for three projects which will be indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by the Indian industry.

In a big impetus to the government's 'Make in India' project in the defence sector, the Centre on Monday gave approval to indigenously design, develop and manufacture third-generation Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM). 

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, granted approval for procurement of indigenously designed defence equipment worth over Rs. 3,300 crore.

In a press release, the Ministry of Defence said the DAC provided approval for three projects which will be indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by the Indian industry.

"The first two projects include third-generation Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) and the Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) for the T-72 and T-90 Tanks," it said. 

"While the third generation ATGM would provide ‘Fire and Forget’ and “Top Attack” capabilities to the troops in an armoured battle, the APUs would enable incorporation of various upgrades to Fire Control System and Night Fighting capabilities of the Tanks," it added.

This is the first time that complex military equipment will be designed, developed and manufactured by the Indian private industry.

"Both these projects will be progressed under the ‘Make-II’ Category and will provide a boost to indigenous research and development in the Private Sector. With this, for the first time the Ministry of Defence has offered complex Military equipment to be designed, developed and manufactured by the Indian private industry," the ministry said. 

The third indigenous project pertains to discrete Electronic Warfare (EW) systems for the mountain and High Altitude terrain, which would be "designed and developed by DRDO and manufactured by design cum production partner from the Indian industry."