Indian Army invokes emergency powers to buy Israel’s fire-and-forget anti-tank missiles

• Indian Army has placed fresh orders for Spike which is an anti-tank missile, from Israel using its emergency purchase powers.
  
• The procurement was discussed at the annual Army Commanders meeting in April and the orders have been placed this month.
  
• The missiles come with a 4 kilometer range and can be fired from various platforms.
  
• DRDO successfully tested indigenous Nag anti-tank missiles in July.
  

Indian Army’s fire power is set to get turbocharged as it placed orders for Israel’s anti-tank Spike missiles.

Spike is an advanced missile system which is known as fire-and-forget guided missile, developed by the country. The Army invoked its power to make emergency purchases for operational preparedness to place this order, reported the Economic Times.

The missiles come with a range of four kilometres and can be deployed in mountainous terrain as well and plains.

The missiles are also special as they can be deployed and launched from different platforms including land vehicles, helicopters, ships and ground launchers, as per sources.

After the Balakot strike

The procurement of the missiles was discussed after the Balakot strike in April, during the annual Army Commanders meeting.The proposal was cleared in the meeting itself, and the orders were made placed this month.

The special powers for procurement of weapons were given to the three armed forces after the IED blast in Pulwama on February 14, which had killed more than 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personals. The forces have special powers to procure equipment worth ₹300 crore.

These orders have been placed after the three service chiefs and Defence ministry officials made a presentation before the its Minister Rajnath Singh, soon after he took charge last month.

While the Indian Army is prioritising the purchase of precision guided missiles for its artillery ammunition, India itself is developing indigenous anti-tank missiles. Recently, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully tested Nag anti-tank missiles on July 7 in the Pokhran firing range, as per ANI.

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