The Indian Ministry of Defense has approved buying one C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft for INR 900 crore (US $134 million).
The Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by defense minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday made a decision to buy the aircraft which, will replace another C-130J aircraft that crashed while practising a tactical operation after taking off from Agra on March 28, 2014.
The IAF had inducted six C-130J Super Hercules aircraft which were bought from the US at a cost of around Rs. 6,000 crore (USD 1 billion) in 2010. India has already ordered for six additional aircraft.
The DAC has also approved procurement of 58 night vision goggles for pilots, for night enablement, Defence sources said.
The DAC reviewed progress of capital acquisition proposals in current financial year. Since May 2016-10 acquisition schemes worth approximately Rs. 16,000 crore have been approved including 6 at CCS level, sources said.
In addition, four major acquisitions worth Rs. 15,000 crore have been cleared by MoD and have been forwarded for consideration of CCS.
With over Rs. 31,000 crore major acquisitions either contracted or at advanced stage – DAC urged the services and the Ministry to expedite process.
It was also said that as against 329 Acceptance of Necessity (AON) worth over Rs. 5 lakh crore in pipeline in April 2014, today there are about 235 AONs in pipeline.