NEW DELHI: Defence minister AK Antony on Monday refused to bite the bullet on two critical but controversial major missile deals with Israel, but cleared other proposals for rockets, night sights, munitions, simulators and vehicles worth over Rs 7,000 crore for the armed forces.

Sources said the Antony-led defence acquisitions council (DAC), attended by the three service chiefs and defence secretary, kept the decision on the over Rs 15,000 crore project to equip the Army’s 355 infantry battalions with Israeli "Spike" third-generation anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) "on the hold" for now.

The Navy’s proposed acquisition of an additional 262 Barak-I missiles to arm the Israeli anti-missile defence ( AMD ) systems fitted on 14 Indian frontline warships including aircraft carrier INS Viraat, in turn was referred to "an independent group" within the defence ministry for a thorough evaluation.

The "final decision" on the Barak deal will, however, be taken by the DAC within a month or so. "The law ministry and the attorney general has left it to the MoD to take a call on the matter on the ground of operational necessity despite the pending probe into the Barak kickbacks case since October 2006," said a source.

As reported by TOI last week, both the Spike and Barak deals are with Israeli firm Rafael on "a single vendor" basis without global competition. The two have been kept pending for long despite the military pressing for these "critical operational requirements" due to controversies like "leaks" of top-secret documents and the pending seven-year-old CBI case into the original Barak missile deal.

The US has also been hard-selling its own Javelin ATGMs to India, with deputy secretary of defence Ash Carter even offering a joint project to manufacture the next-generation of the tank-killing missiles during his visit to India in September.

Among the projects cleared were the Rs 3,794 crore one to acquire "night sights for carbines" from Indian companies, the Rs 682 crore procurement of Russian extended range Grad BM-21 rockets and the Rs 137 crore purchase of technical support vehicles for Russian T-90S main-battle tanks.

The DAC also approved the waiver of certain offset provisions for the Rs 4,381 crore order for four more American P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft. The Navy is already inducting eight P-8I aircraft under a $2.1 billion deal inked with aviation major Boeing in January 2009.

The DAC also extended by three months the tender for the proposed Rs 13,000-crore project to acquire 56 transport aircraft to replace the ageing Avro fleet of the IAF. This comes in the backdrop of NCP leader and heavy industries minister Praful Patel questioning the MoD’s decision to keep state-run units like defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics out of the project. "The matter is being examined in detail," said an official.

