DAC clears defence acquisition projects worth Rs 2.23 lakh crore

• The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, accorded approval in respect of Acceptance of Necessity (AoNs) for various capital acquisition proposals amounting to Rs 2.23 lakh crore.

• About 98 per cent of the total procurement will be sourced from the domestic industries and that the move will give a substantial boost to the Indian defence industry in achieving the goal of ‘Aatmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) in defence industry.

• The DAC accorded AoNs for procurement of Light Combat Helicopter for Indian Air Force and Indian Army and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk-1A for IAF from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) under Buy (Indian-IDDM) category.

• The AoNs have also been accorded by the DAC for upgradation of Su-30 MKI aircraft indigenously from HAL. 

• While procurement of these equipment will provide enormous strength to the IAF, acquisition from domestic defence industries will take the indigenous capability to a new height. 

• The DAC has also accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) or initial approval for procurement of two types of anti-tank munitions namely area denial munition (ADM) type-2 and type-3.

• It also cleared acquisition and integration of automatic target tracker (ATT) and digital basaltic computer (DBC) for T-90 tanks besides approving another proposal to buy Medium Range Anti-Ship Missiles (MRAShM) for the Indian Navy. The MRAShM is a lightweight surface-to-surface missile which will be a primary offensive weapon onboard various Indian naval ships.

What is the role of the Defence Acquisition Council?

• Pursuant to the recommendations made by the group of ministers on reforming the national security system in February 2001, a separate, dedicated structure for defence procurement was set up.

• In continuation of its efforts to streamline defence procurement procedures and to reduce timelines so as to ensure timely delivery of equipment to the armed forces, various measures to simplify the defence procurement procedure have been undertaken.

• A Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) was created as an overarching structure with the defence minister as its chairman.

• The DAC is the highest decision-making body of the defence ministry on procurement.

• The defence minister is the chairman of DAC. Its members include Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force.

• The main objective of the DAC is to ensure expeditious procurement of the approved requirements of the armed forces in terms of capabilities sought and time frame prescribed by optimally utilizing the allocated budgetary resources.

Its functions include:

i)  Give in principle approval of a 15 years Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP) for defence forces.

ii) Accord of acceptance of necessity to acquisition proposals. 

iii) Categorisation of the acquisition proposals relating to ‘Buy’, ‘Buy & Make’ and ‘Make’. 

iv) Look into issues relating to single vendor clearance. 

v) Take decisions regarding ‘offset’ provisions in respect of acquisition proposals above Rs 300 crore.

vi) Take decisions regarding Transfer of Technology under the ‘Buy & Make’ category of acquisition proposals. 

vii) Field trial evaluation.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store