Amid its continued border tension with China, India has approved the procurement of 500 HELINA anti-tank guided missiles and Very Short-Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) missile for the northern borders with China.
The approval was given on Tuesday by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) which is headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The Indian Ministry of Defence said three acquisition proposals, amounting to Rs 4,276 crore, have been accorded acceptance of necessity (AoN).
The DAC accorded the AoN for the procurement of HELINA anti-tank guided missiles, launchers and associated support equipment, which will be integrated with the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH).
The council also accorded AoN for the pro-curement of VSHORADS (IR Homing) missile system under the design and development by the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Or-ganisation).
The DAC also granted approval for the pro-curement of BrahMos missile launcher and fire-control system for the Shivalik class of ships and Next-Generation Missile Vessels (NGMVs) for the Navy.
Meanwhile, Chinese observers have expressed deep concern over the news of India positioning its BrahMos missiles along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). They have warned New Delhi of “new bar-riers” in talks related to de-escalation if it were to go ahead with the transportation of its most advanced missile to the western side of LAC, reported Global Times.
Chinese officials and observers have taken cog-nizance of news of road-widening work being un-dertaken by the Indian side near LAC.—INP
