NEW DELHI – The Indian defence acquisition council (DAC) on Monday set theball rolling for buying military hardware worth Rs 6,900 crore, includingthermal imaging night sights for rocket launchers and equipment that willenhance the capabilities of the air force’s Sukhoi-30 warplanes, a ministryspokesperson said.

The council, headed by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, approved thepurchase of the hardware through the indigenous route to boost India’scapabilities to locally produce weapons and systems.

“The thermal imaging sight for 84mm rocket launchers will be used by troopsin operations to facilitate accurate and continuous engagement of movingand static enemy targets and destruction of bunkers during hours ofcomplete darkness,” the spokesperson said.

The slow pace of acquisition has hurt India’s military capabilities. Thegovernment inked a $100-million contract for 1.86 lakh bullet proof jacketsfor the army, a decade after the force moved the case. Financialconstraints, cumbersome procedures and unrealistic qualitative requirementsset by the armed forces are among the key factors that hindermodernisation, said a senior official who did not wish to be named. “Forgetthe bigger purchases, the system is such that we take a decade to equipsoldiers with new assault rifles and bullet proof vests,” he said.

Ammunition is also a problem area. The army told a parliamentary panel inMarch that it was short of Rs 6,380 crore to build ammunition stocksnecessary for war for 10 days. The panel was also told that even as Chinaand Pakistan were modernising their militaries at a lightning-fast pace, alooming financial crisis was crippling India’s combat capabilities.

The equipment cleared for purchase on Monday is significant as it willenable the army to “detect and recognise” enemy tanks and soldiers.

The DAC also approved a project for the design and development of LongRange Dual Band Infrared Imaging Search and Track System (IRST) for SU-30MKI fighters.

Experts said Sitharaman’s predecessors in the ministry had also cleared thedecks for weapon purchases worth lakhs of crores but not many of thoseclearances translated into deals.

“The projects that have been given a go-ahead are at the acceptance ofnecessity stage (the first step toward making procurement under the DefenceProcurement Procedure). The real test would be to see how many of thesecases end up as contracts …” said military affairs expert Air ViceMarshal Kapil Kak (retd).