NEW DELHI: The defence ministry on Thursday gave the preliminary nod to a slew of military modernization projects, ranging from amphibious warfare ships and armed swarm drones to Russian S-400 air defence missiles and indigenous Nag anti-tank missile systems, collectively worth around Rs 79,000 crore ($9 billion). The biggest project to get the “acceptance of necessity” (AoN), which is the first step in the long-winded procurement process, from the Rajnath Singh-led defence acquisitions council (DAC) was for the construction of four large amphibious warfare ships or “landing platform docks (LPDs)” at a cost of Rs 33,000 crore. The LPDs, each with a displacement of over 20,000-tonne, will be built at an Indian shipyard to be selected after competitive bidding. “The LPDs will help the N

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