Defence Ministry clears procurement of 5,000 Milan missiles from France

New Delhi, Jan 31: The Defence Ministry on Thursday cleared the proposal to acquire 5,000 Milan 2T anti-tank guided missiles from France for the Indian Army.

During the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting today, the ministry also cleared Rs. 40,000 crore project to build six submarines, reported ANI.

It was earlier reported that the Indian Army was planning to buy Milan 2T anti-tank guided missiles from France. This will significantly bolster the Army's capability to thwart off advancing armoured divisions of the enemy.

An anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-armour guided missile or anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) is a missile that is created to destroy vehicles that are heavily armoured.

Indian Army requires around 70,000 anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) of various types and around 850 launchers of different types. The Indian Army is planning to procure third-generation ATGMs with a longer range than that of its existing Milan-2T and Konkurs ATGMs, said reports.

After years of struggles with the development of the Nag third generation "fire-and-forget" anti-tank guided missile by India, it is literally raining Anti-Tank Missile Systems as India builds on the technological capabilities which were developed over the years and expertise developed that India has started many parallel projects which are fast maturing and soon India will not require them to be acquired from abroad anymore. But, this particular deal seems like a stopgap arrangement till the indigenous systems are fully ready.