Nod to 156 more BMPs for Army

New Delhi, February 20

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, met here today and okayed the purchase of 156 infantry-carrying vehicles — popularly known by their Russian acronym BMP.

These will be procured for Mechanised Infantry and other arms and services like Signals, artillery observation teams and engineers. These armoured vehicles look like tanks and form the main equipment for mechanised forces.

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These will cost Rs 1,125 crore and be supplied by the Ordnance Factory Board. Their procurement will meet the operational requirement of the troops in rapid deployment of mechanised forces.

The DAC also cleared a specialised survey vessel for the Navy to carry out hydrographic operations in the Indian Ocean region. Thesemap the sea bed. These will be purchased from an Indian shipyard at an estimated cost of Rs 626 crore. — TNS