Tata, Nibe likely to bag Indian Army’s Rs 1,600 crore loitering munition tender

NEW DELHI: Indian firms Tata Advanced Systems and Nibe Limited have emerged as the lowest bidders in the Indian Army’s tender to procure 840 loitering munitions of 100 Km range worth around Rs 1,600 crore.

Defence sources said the Tata Advanced Systems has emerged as the lowest bidder (L-1) and will get to supply 64 per cent of the 840 loitering munitions required by the Indian Army’s Artillery.

The second lowest bidder (L-2) in the tender is Nibe Defence, which would get to supply 36 per cent of the drones for the force, which is modernising itself for next-generation warfare. With this arrangement, the Tata group is likely to get orders worth around Rs 1,000 crore while Nibe Limited’s share would be around Rs 600 crore.

The Indian Army had opened the price bids for its tender for 100 km-plus loitering munitions under the fast-track procedures a few days ago, sources said.

Only three vendors had been successful in clearing the technical evaluation held in the project. The three vendors were TASL, Nibe Limited fielding their Vayuastra (based on Skystriker drones), and A-Vision. The Indian Army will now call the L1 and L2 for price negotiations.

The Indian Army has completely modernised the Regiment of Artillery with dedicated drone batteries and regiments. The Shaktibaan regiments have been raised to carry out drone warfare alone with the Divyastra batteries. The Bhairav battalions have also been provided with drones to carry out strikes against enemy targets.

As per estimates, the Indian Army is looking to procure around one lakh drones to carry out different tasks. The Artillery Directorate is expected to induct drones from ranges between 50 km and 1,000 km in the next 12-18 months under fast-track procedures.

The Indian Army is also coming out with a tender for 36 jet-based drones, which will be worth around 1,500 crores and would be split between L1 and L-2. (ANI)