Under the chairmanship of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoNs) to eight capital acquisition proposals amounting to over Rs 54,000 crore. 

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.

Key projects that got approved in the last meeting:

• For the Indian Army, AoN for procurement of 1,350 HP Engine was accorded to upgrade the present 1000 HP Engine for the T-90 Tanks. This will enhance the battlefield mobility of these tanks especially in high-altitude areas by increasing the power to weight ratio. 

• For the Indian Navy, AoN for procurement of Varunastra Torpedoes (combat) was accorded by DAC. Varunastra Torpedo is an indigenously-developed ship-launched anti-submarine torpedo developed by Naval Science & Technological Laboratory. Induction of additional quantities of this torpedo would enhance the Navy's capability against adversaries' submarine threats. 

• For the Indian Air Force, AoN for procurement of Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) Aircraft Systems was accorded by DAC. AEW&C systems are capability enhancers which can change the complete spectrum of warfare and exponentially increase the combat potential of every other weapon system. 

• The DAC also approved the guidelines for reducing the timelines at various stages of the capital acquisition process to make it faster, more effective and efficient.

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