New Delhi (Sputnik) — The Indian Navy is poised to further augment its strike capability with the defense ministry clearing funds for two much-anticipated purchases. Wednesday's meeting of the Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) sanctioned $125 million for the purchase of Klub supersonic cruise missiles from Russia. The decision was taken by the Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday.
The apex body for defense purchases has also given its nod to equip Indian Navy's frigates and destroyers with underwater sensor —HUMSA-UG which is the upgraded version of the locally developed hull-mounted sonar array at a cost of $30 million to augment anti-submarine warfare capability.
"These Sonars are designed, developed and manufactured indigenously by the DRDO and the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory, Kochi and will provide a significant boost to the Navy's anti-submarine warfare capabilities. The DAC additionally cleared procurement of missiles for replenishing the naval inventory," JP Mattu, spokesperson, India's Ministry of Defense said.
Seven systems of HUMSA-UG will be installed on the Teg Class, Godavari- Class frigates and R-Class destroyers. HUMSA UG enables the smooth upgrade of the capabilities of the indigenously-developed legacy Sonar System HUMSA, by drastically minimizing the existing hardware and addressing technology obsolescence issues. It is currently operational onboard 18 ships.
Nirmala Sitharaman has also directed officials to expedite the procurement of ongoing capital acquisition schemes so that it can be brought to maturity within stipulated timelines. This was Sitharaman's maiden DAC meeting after taking charge as Defense Minister. She has chosen to break older traditions and hold DAC meetings once every fortnight in order to accelerate the government's armed forces capacity augmentation mission.
