India puts import embargo on 101 defence items to promote self-reliance in defence
In a big step towards attaining self-reliance in defence equipment, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on August 9, 2020, announced that the government has prepared a list 101 items on which there would be an embargo on import. This implies that India will have to compulsorily develop technology for the defence systems and platforms figuring on the negative import list.
The move aims to give a push to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ (Self-Reliant India Movement).
The import embargo will come into effect in a phased manner between 2020 and 2024. The deadline has been set for December 2025.
The equipment banned for import includes such high technology weapon systems as assault rifles, artillery guns, sonar systems, aircraft, radars, light combat helicopters (LCHs), transport aircraft, corvettes, etc.
The list of weapons banned for import will be reviewed every year and more items will be added to it after discussions with the department of military affairs (DMA) in consultation with all stakeholders.
DMA, headed by the chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat, is entrusted with the task of promoting the use of indigenous military equipment in the armed forces. A due note of this will also be made in the Defence Acquisition Procedure to ensure that no item in the negative list is processed for import in the future.
The step assumes a lot of significance in the light of the fact that India is highly dependent on foreign equipment for its defence needs.
As per a report released in April 2020 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India was the third-biggest military spender in the world in 2019 after the United States and China.
Imports account for 60-65 per cent of India’s military requirements, and it has signed contracts worth billions of dollars during the last decade for weapons and systems including fighter jets, air defence missile systems, submarine hunter planes, attack helicopters, heavy-lift choppers, and lightweight howitzers.
Rajnath said the ministry had split the capital procurement budget for 2020-21 between domestic and foreign capital procurement routes for which a separate budget head had been created with an outlay of nearly Rs 52,000 crore for domestic capital procurement in the current financial year.
Apart from notifying a list of weapons/equipment that cannot be imported, the government had announced various measures to boost self-reliance in the defence sector in May 2020, including raising foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence manufacturing to creating a separate budget for buying locally made military hardware.
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List of 101 defence items banned for import
- Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) MK I A, Land-Attack Cruise Missiles (Long-Range),155 mm Artillery Ammunition.
- By December 2020, the embargo will come into effect on 120mm Fin Stabilised Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (FSAPDS) Mark II Ammunition, 7.62 x 51 Sniper Rifle, Tracked Self Propelled (SP) Gun (155mm x 52 Cal), Towed Artillery Gun (155mm x 52 Cal), Short Range Surface to Air Missiles (Land variant), Shipborne Cruise Missiles, Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) (Pinaka Variant), Simulators Presenting Smart Ranges And Multi-Function Targets, Battalion Support Weapons Simulators, Container-based Simulators for Live Fire Training, Tailor-made Simulators for Counter Insurgency (CI)/Counter Terrorism (CT) based Training, Force-on-force Live Tactical Simulators / Infantry Weapon.
- This category also has Tank Simulators (driving, as well as, crew gunnery), 155mm/39 Cal Ultra-Light Howitzer, Successor of Flycatcher &Upgraded Super Fledermaus (USFM) / Air Defence Fire Control Radar (ADFCR), Component Level Repair Facility for Tank T-90, Shipborne Close-in Weapon System, Bullet Proof Jackets, Ballistic Helmets, Missile Destroyers, Multi-Purpose Vessel, Offshore Patrol Vessel, Next Generation Missile Vessels, Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts, Water Jet Fast Attack Craft, Ammunition Barges, 50ton Bollard – Pull Tugs, Survey Vessels, Floating Dock, Diving Support Vessels, Pollution Control Vessels, Anti-Submarine Rocket Launchers and Shipborne Medium-Range Gun.
- Among other items in this December 2020 embargo, the category includes Torpedo Tube Launcher for Light Weight Torpedoes, Magneto-Rheological Anti Vibration Mounts, All variants of Depth Charges, Shipborne Sonar System for Large Ships, Hull Mounted Submarine Sonar, Short Range Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft, Short Range Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft, Short Range Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft, Chaff Rocket Launcher, Integrated Ship’s Bridge System, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) MK I A – Enhanced Indigenised Content and Light Combat Helicopters.
- General Purpose Pre Fragmentation Bombs between 250-500 Kg, Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) for Transport Aircraft, Ground-Based Mobile ELINT System, Transport Aircraft (Light), GSAT-6 Satellite Terminals, Aerial Delivery Systems for Transport Aircraft, Digital Tropo Scatter/LOS Communication System, Low-Level Transportable Radar, High Power Radar (HPR), CBRN Detection & Monitoring System, CBRN Decontamination & Protection System, Parachute Tactical Assault (PTA)- G2 will not be imported from the end of December 2020.
- This list also has Dragunov Upgrade System, PKMG Upgrade System, Simulators for A Vehicles / B Vehicles, Simulators for Towed and Self Propelled Guns of Air Defence, Simulators for Correction of Fire by Observers, Military trucks of 4×4 and above variants: 12×12, 10×10, 8×8, 6×6, Fixed Wing Mini UAVs, 500 Ton Self Propelled Water Barges, Software Defined Radio (TAC) for IN, Next Generation Maritime Mobile Coastal Battery (Long Range), Advance Landing Ground Communication Terminals (ALGCTs)for AGLs and Field Artillery Tractor (FAT) 6X6 for Medium Guns.
- On items – Wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicle (AFV), Light Machine Gun, 125 mm Fin Stabilised Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (FSAPDS)New Generation Ammunition, Assault Rifle 7.62 x 39mm, 30 mm Ammunition for Infantry Fighting Systems, Mine Fragmentation, Mine Anti-tank, Mine Anti-Personnel Blast, Multipurpose Grenade, Inertial Navigation System for Ship Application and Conventional Submarines- embargo will come with effect From December 2021.
- 40mm UBGL (Under Barrel Grenade Launcher), Lightweight Rocket Launcher, 155 mm Artillery Ammunition, EW Systems among items which will have import embargo by December 2022.
- From 2023, Material Handling Crane 2.5 to 7.5 Tons (Vehicle Mounted), GRAD BM Rocket, 30MM HEI/HET, ASTRA-MK I Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVR AAM), EW Suit for MI-17 V5, Communication Satellite GSAT-7C, Satellite GSAT 7R, Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) will not be imported.
- On items including Expendable Aerial Targets, Small Jet Engines with 120kgf thrust, Light Low-Level Terrain Radar (LLLWR), Close-in Weapon System (Land-based), 23 mm ZU Ammunitions, 30mm VOG 17, Electronic Fuses for Artillery Ammunitions, Bi- Modular Charge System (BMCS), the embargo will come into effect from 2024.
The Defence Ministry put an embargo on Long-Range – Land Attack Cruise Missile by December 2025.
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