Govt to buy C-130 J Super Hercules

The defence acquisition committee (DAC), chaired by defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday, approved the buying of a Rs 900-crore C-130 J Super Hercules aircraft in order to replace the one that crashed on March 28, 2014 after taking off from Agra. Five airmen were killed in the crash.

While six C-130 J Super Hercules aircraft were procured in 2010 from the United States at a cost of around Rs 6,000 crore ($1 billion), orders have already been placed for another six.

“The DAC also considered and approved procurement of night vision goggles for pilots, for night enablement,” a defence source told this newspaper.

“The DAC also reviewed progress of capital acquisition proposals in the current financial year. Since May 2016, 10 acquisition schemes worth approx Rs 16,000 crore have been approved including six at the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) level four major acquisitions worth Rs 15,000 crore have been cleared by MOD and have been forwarded for consideration of CCS,” the source added. With over Rs 31,000 cr major acquisitions either contracted or at advanced stage, the DAC also urged an expediting of the process.

The DAC reviewed that as against 329 Acceptance of Necessity (AON) worth over Rs 5 lakh crore in pipeline in April 2014, at present there are about 235 AONs in pipeline.