Defence ministry clears procurement of weapons for Navy, IAF

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday cleared procurement of weapons worth nearly Rs 1,700 crore to arm the Navy and IAF.

For the Indian Air Force, she approved the purchase of laser-guided bombs that can hit a target accurately whereas more Israeli Barak surface-to-air missiles would be procured for navy's frontline warships.

As many as 240 bombs in the category of precision-guided munitions would be procured from the Russian agency JSC Rosoboronexpert at a cost of Rs 1,254 crore.

"The procurement will address the deficiency of precision-guided munitions in the IAF arsenal, besides enhancing the offensive capabilities of the IAF," the defence ministry said in a statement.

Ahead of the scheduled visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence ministry under  Nirmala also permitted procurement of 131 Barak missiles and associated equipment, under an option clause from Israel's Rafael Advance Defence Systems Ltd, Israel, at a cost of Rs 460 crore.

The second proposal pertaining  to these missiles are surface -to-air missiles designed to be used as a ship-borne anti-missile defence system against anti-ship missiles.

The approval for short-range Israeli-origin missiles is to replenish the weapons in several warships.