With Operation Sindoor still on, military gets emergency purchase powers

NEW DELHI: With India making it clear that the cessation of hostilities under Operation Sindoor is only a ‘strategic pause’ if Pakistan does not mend its ways in fuelling cross-border terrorism , govt has granted emergency procurement (EP) powers to the armed forces with an overall outer limit of around Rs 40,000 crore.

The EP-6 approval for Army, IAF and Navy to further boost as well as replenish their arms stockpiles was granted by the Rajnath Singh-led Defence Acquisitions Council just a few days ago, officials told TOI on Saturday.

The first four EPs were granted during the military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh, while the fifth was for counter-terror operations. Under EP-6, the armed forces can fast-track multiple contracts, each worth Rs 300 crore, under both capital and revenue heads instead of following the normal long-winded procurement procedure.

“The contracts have to be finalised within 40 days, with deliveries to be completed in one year. The powers will be exercised by the three Service vice chiefs,” an official said.

This will allow the armed forces to quickly build their arsenals of missiles and other long-range weapons, loiter and precision-guided munitions, kamikaze drones and counter-drone systems, among other weapons and ammunition.

There is a 15% cap each on the total capital and revenue procurements of the overall defence outlay earmarked for the ongoing fiscal. “All EP-6 purchases have to take place with the concurrence of the financial advisors, while special permission is needed for imports,” the official said. “While the actual expenditure is likely to be less than the overall 15% outer limit, it gives the Services the requisite flexibility to meet urgent operational gaps and replenish their ammunition stocks depleted in the four days of intense hostilities from May 7 to 10,” he added.

IAF jets, for instance, used BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, which are jointly produced in India with Russia, the Israeli-origin air-to-ground Crystal Maze-2 and Rampage missiles and Spice- 2000 precision-guided bombs, and French-origin Scalp cruise missiles and Hammer air-to-ground precision-guided munitions, for their precision strikes, as earlier reported by TOI. IAF also used Israeli Harop and Harpy kamikaze drones.

Similarly, Army units launched loitering munitions like SkyStriker as well as fired ‘smart’ extended range artillery shells like Excalibur to hammer specific targets.

The armed forces also used a wide array of weapons as part of the multi-layered air defence network. They included the Barak-8 medium range surface-to-air missiles, jointly developed with Israel, and the indigenous Akash missiles.