NEW DELHI: In a push to rewire the defence capital procurement system for faster acquisitions and technology sovereignty, the defence ministry on Tuesday released the draft Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2026 to seek suggestions from stakeholders and the public.
The DAP governs the capital procurement of military equipment, platforms and systems under the Capital head of expenditure. It lays down the processes for planning, evaluation, contracting and approvals, covering everything from design and domestic manufacture to foreign sourcing.
The draft DAP 2026 which will replace the DAP 2020, introduces an “Owned by India” approach rather than the conventional “Made in India” model.
Under this approach, India will not only manufacture weapons domestically but also own the underlying technologies and intellectual property (IP), including source codes, system architecture and upgrade pathways. This codification of IP sovereignty marks a departure from DAP 2020, which prioritised indigenous content (IC) thresholds and manufacturing but did not formally mandate ownership of digital and system architecture layers.
The draft revises the definition of indigenous design, requiring ownership of ‘technical artefacts, source codes, hardware layout and system architecture,’ along with the ability to upgrade systems and manage obsolescence. It further tightens restrictions on foreign ownership, mandating Indian control over vendors in key acquisition categories, even as defence FDI norms have been eased to encourage foreign investment and technology transfer.
Incidentally, Aerospace systems are not part of the draft’s immediate scope. According to the document, “Procedure for Acquisition of Aerospace Systems is being developed separately in consultation with stakeholders and will be included in DAP 2026 subsequently.”
India’s defence procurement process has long been criticised for its sluggishness, with projects often stretching over decades. Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has earlier called the system “broken”, insisting it requires a fundamental overhaul. Singh has also said that the defence ministry is working to reduce weapon-buying timelines from about six years to two, arguing that procedural bottlenecks, rather than funding shortages, are the primary cause of delays.
Subsequently, as pledged by the Defence Secretary, the draft of the updated procedure seeks to cut through red tape, accelerate decision-making and promote fair competition, while opening the doors wider to private companies, MSMEs and startups in defence acquisitions.
It outlines measures to speed up the acquisition of capital equipment, emphasising simplification, delegation of powers and elimination of redundant processes. The draft also proposes greater financial and procurement authority for the Services and lower-level acquisition bodies, while allowing technical and commercial stages to run in parallel.
Early industry engagement is prioritised, with streamlined Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) procedures, faster RFP (Requests for Proposal) and rationalised field evaluations and staff assessments. The draft framework also targets to reduce layers of approvals and empower integrated project teams to make faster decisions, moving away from the heavily sequential processes under DAP 2020.
Long-term planning instruments such as the Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP), Technology Perspective Capability Roadmap (TPCR) and Annual Acquisition Plan existed under DAP 2020, but the new procedure as put in the draft is expected to integrate them into joint capability planning rather than service-specific planning.
