Defence Acquisition Council clears procurement proposals worth ₹2.12 lakh crore for the three Services

27 October 2026 · English Defence

Topics: Defence, Tribal Affairs, Transport & Welfare · 27 October 2026 Current Affairs (UPSC / TNPSC / SSC / RRB)

News

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, met in New Delhi on 26 Oct 2026 and accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to capital acquisition proposals of the three Services worth about ₹2,12,000 crore; about 82% will be sourced from Indian industry. For the Army: High Mobility Vehicles, a Self-Propelled Tracked Gun System, Gun Shot Response System (GSRS), Light Multi-Role Helicopters (LMRH), Very Short-Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS), Counter-UAS, surveillance UAVs and long-range kamikaze drones. For the Navy: an Active Offboard Decoy System (AODS) to defeat anti-ship missiles and indigenously designed major naval platforms. For the IAF: Special Utility Helicopters, air-defence systems, weapons and a Mobile X-Band Doppler Weather Radar.

Key facts

Background

• DAC: set up in 2001 on the recommendation of the Group of Ministers (GoM) that examined the post-Kargil (1999) Kargil Review Committee report (chaired by K. Subrahmanyam). Chaired by the Defence Minister; members include the three Service Chiefs, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and the Defence Secretary. AoN is only the first step – Request for Proposal (RFP), trials and price negotiation follow; big contracts need Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approval.
• Procedure: Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 gives top priority to 'Buy (Indian-IDDM)' (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured); a draft 'DAP 2026' was released for comments in Feb 2026. The indigenous share is being raised under 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.
• Science: Doppler effect – the apparent change in frequency when a wave source and an observer move relative to each other; explained by Christian Doppler (Austria) in 1842. A Doppler weather radar measures the speed and direction of rain drops and clouds; X-band (short wavelength) suits high-resolution local monitoring – useful for air operations in forward areas.
• Drone warfare: 'kamikaze drones' are also called 'loitering munitions' – they hover over a target area and dive onto the target once found, exploding on impact. 'Kamikaze' is Japanese for 'divine wind' and referred to Japan's WWII suicide pilots. Counter-UAS systems detect hostile drones by radar and defeat them by jamming or shooting them down.

Tamil Nadu link: Armoured Vehicles Nigam Ltd (AVNL), formed on 1 Oct 2021 when the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) was split into 7 public-sector companies, is headquartered at Avadi, Chennai; the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Avadi, makes Arjun tanks. The 82% domestic sourcing is an opportunity for the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor (nodes: Chennai, Coimbatore, Hosur, Salem, Tiruchirappalli).

Source: The Week, 26 Oct 2026; The Hans India, 27 Oct 2026; India TV, 26 Oct 2026; Rajnath Singh on X; AVNL (Wikipedia)

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