Defence ministry approves procurement of 111 utility choppers of navy; clears proposals worth nearly Rs 46,000 crore

New Delhi: In a major decision, the defence ministry on Saturday approved procurement of 111 utility helicopters for the navy at a cost of over Rs 21,000 crore, officials said. [caption id=“attachment_4301415” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Twitter @DefenceMinIndia[/caption] They said the ministry cleared procurement proposals worth nearly Rs 46,000 crore which included the acquisition of the helicopters. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the ministry’s highest decision-making body on procurement. “The DAC approved procurement of 111 utility helicopters for the Indian Navy at a cost of over Rs 21,000 crores,” said a senior official. The official said the DAC also granted approval to a few other procurement proposals amounting to approximately Rs 24,879 crore which included approval for acquisition of 150 indigenously designed and developed 155 millimeter advanced towed artillery gun systems for the army at an approximate cost of Rs 3,364 crores.