Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has announced that the defence ministry has cleared procurement worth Rs. 1,10,000 crore. He also announced that of the total procurement, around 90% is coming under PM Modi’s “Make in India” campaign.

The Ministry has planned to set up a government to government committee to deal with negotiations on the deal wrt procurement of Rafale fighter jets for IAF. The French Defence Minister is expected to be in New Delhi on 6th May to finalise the modalities for the negotiations.

“We are working government to government with many countries including the US, Israel and Russia. We have already worked with France in past,” Parrikar said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to France last month had signed an agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets for over USD 6 billion.

Tidbits

• India is the World’s biggest arms importer.
• India is the biggest arms buyer of weapons from United States.
• India’s weapons imports are now three times larger than its neighbours China and Pakistan as well as cash-rich Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
• India has spent over $120 billion on arms acquisitions over the last 15 years, and will spend another estimated $120 billion in the coming decade.

Some GK Questions

• India procured Mirage aircraft from which country? France
• India buys C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft from which country? United States
• BARAK 8 – a surface to Air missile – Joint development of India and ______? Israel