NEW DELHI – Indian Army has finalised a mega Rs 15,000-crore project underwhich a range of ammunition for its critical weapons and tanks will beproduced indigenously to overcome long delays in imports and address theproblem of a dwindling stockpile.

Official sources told PTI that 11 private firms would be involved in theambitious project, the implementation of which is being monitored by thetop brass of the Army and the Defence Ministry.

The immediate aim of the closely guarded project – said to be the biggestever initiative for the indigenisation of ammunition – is to create aninventory for all major weapons to enable the forces to fight a 30-day warwhile the long-term objective is to cut dependence on imports.

“The overall cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 15,000 crore and wehave set a specific target for the next 10 years in terms of the volume ofammunition to be produced,” a senior government official involved in theproject said, refusing to elaborate further.

Initially, ammunition for a range of rockets, air defence system, artilleryguns, infantry combat vehicles, grenade launchers and various other fieldweapons would be produced under “strict timelines”, a source said.

The production targets would be revised based on the result of the firstphase of the implementation of the programme.

The sources indicated the broad contours of the project were discussed at aconference of the Army’s top commanders here in April 2018.

The initiative is seen as the first serious attempt by the government toaddress growing concerns voiced over the last many years by defence forcesover the fast dwindling stockpile of key ammunition when China has beensignificantly ramping up its military capability, an issue that has beendiscussed by successive governments.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has been pushing for fast-tracking theprocurement of weapons and ammunition for the world’s second-largeststanding Army, considering the evolving security threats in the region.

“The indigenisation of the ammunition project will be biggest suchprogramme in decades,” said the official.

In July 2017, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in areport tabled in Parliament, said a stock of only 61 types of ammunitionout of 152 varieties was available, and these would only last for 10 daysin the event of a war.

According to laid down security protocol, the stockpile should be adequatefor a month-long war.

The sources said long delays in negotiations and subsequent proceduralhurdles in the import of ammunition had adversely impacted the country’sdefence preparedness and that was why the indigenisation programme had beeninitiated.

Last year, the government had empowered the Army to directly procureammunition and spares for 10 types of weapon systems and equipment after aninternal review found the optimum level of “war stores” was not beingmaintained.

Considering the Army’s demand, the government has already finalised one ofthe biggest procurement plans for infantry modernisation under which largenumbers of light machine guns, battle carbines and assault rifles are beingpurchased at a cost of nearly Rs 40,000 crore.