Defence Acquisition Council DAC approved the procurement of Israeli Barak-I missile

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by the Defence Minister, A K Antony, lifted restrictions on the further procurements of Israeli Barak missiles on 22 December 2013.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the proposals for procurement which includes 
• Additional 226 Israeli Barak Surface-to-air precision-guided missiles
• Two naval projects for 16 Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) warships which is capable of operating in shallow waters, worth of  13440 crore rupees
• Two diving support vessels meant for rescuing sailors from disabled submarines, worth of 1500 crore rupees.
• 41 Dhruv Advanced light Helicopters (ALH) worth of 300 crore rupees being manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was cleared.

The diving support vessels or deep-submergence rescue vessels (DSRVs) will be acquired through floating global tender and the ASW boats will be built with foreign collaboration for torpedoes.

Final nod from the Cabinet Committee on Security is required to go-ahead with the acquisition of Barak-I missiles.

Barak Missiles
The Barak deal was originally signed in 2000 by India during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime.
The Barak missiles are effective missile interceptors used as the last layer of defence to destroy advancing missiles within a 10 km range.

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC):
Defence Acquisition Council is the highest body headed by the Defence Minister which oversees the entire acquisition process for the Armed Forces.

DAC approves the long-term perspective plans and accords the acceptance of necessity which involves categorization of items into Buy, Buy & Make and Make in capital acquisition.

DAC’s decisions are implemented under the overall supervision of DAC by the Defence Procurement Board, Defence Production Board and the Defence R&D Board.