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India's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle programme got off the ground on Friday with the central government approving procurement of 12 'Nishant' indigenously-made UAVs for the Army at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore.
The decision to purchase the UAVs from Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Establishment, a Defence Research and Development Organisation unit, was announced by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee after a 90-minute meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
Mukherjee said while four UAVs, along with one system, will be purchased in the first phase, eight UAVs and two systems will be procured in the second phase.
The minister, however, did not specify any time frame for the procurement.
Till now, India has been importing Israeli-made 'Heron' medium and high altitude series of UAVs for the three services, which are using them extensively for surveillance operations in Jammu and Kashmir and certain other strategic areas.
Besides Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and External Affairs Ministers K Natwar Singh also attended the meeting.