The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, met on 7 September 2026 and accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to capital acquisition proposals of the three Services worth about ₹1,10,000 crore. The Ministry of Defence added a line that matters as much as the total: roughly 98% of the procurements will be made from Indian industry.
A DAC meeting produces headlines in crores, but the exam asks about the machinery — what AoN is, who sits on the council, what each piece of equipment does, and which laboratory or company builds it. Take the day in that order.
The list, service by service
| Service | What was cleared | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Indian Army | CBRN Reconnaissance Vehicles | Detect, identify, monitor and mark areas contaminated by chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear agents |
| Indian Army | High Mobility Vehicles (HMV) | Logistics and mobility in difficult terrain |
| Indian Army | Self-Propelled Mechanical Mine Layers (MML) | Fast, responsive minelaying |
| Army and IAF | Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) | Multi-role missions across all terrains |
| Indian Army | Trawl Tanks and Sarvatra Bridge System | Composite crossings for fighting formations — mine-clearing trawls and a mobile bridge |
| Indian Navy | Arudhra Radars | Replace the Air Route Surveillance Radars at Naval Air Stations |
| Indian Navy | Design, development and procurement of Marine Gas Turbines (MGT) | Warship propulsion; cut dependence on foreign vendors |
| Indian Air Force | Upgrades for fighters, transports and helicopters | War-fighting capability |
| Tri-service | Ground-Based Multi-Purpose Jammer (GBMPJ) | Jam adversary radars |
| Tri-service | Defence Forces Secure Access Card (DEFSAC) | RFID smart cards replacing paper identity cards, passes and permits |
AoN is a beginning, not a purchase
The most common error in current-affairs answers is to write that the DAC "bought" or "sanctioned" equipment. It did neither. Acceptance of Necessity is the in-principle administrative approval that a stated military need is genuine and may proceed to procurement. It is the first formal step in the capital acquisition chain laid down in the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020, which came into force on 1 October 2020 and replaced the Defence Procurement Procedure 2016.
The chain after AoN runs roughly like this: a Request for Proposal (RFP) goes to vendors; a Technical Evaluation Committee checks the offers on paper; Field Evaluation Trials test the equipment in Indian conditions — a desert summer, a Himalayan winter; a Staff Evaluation compares trial results with the requirement; a Contract Negotiation Committee settles price; and only then does the Competent Financial Authority sanction the contract. Cases above ₹3,000 crore go to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by the Prime Minister. Years can separate an AoN from a signed contract, and some AoNs lapse.
Every AoN also carries a category under DAP 2020, and the category is what the "98% Indian" figure is about. In descending order of indigenous content the categories are Buy (Indian-IDDM) — Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured — Buy (Indian), Buy and Make (Indian), Buy (Global – Manufacture in India) and Buy (Global). DAP 2020 made Buy (Indian-IDDM) the preferred route. A council clearing ₹1.10 lakh crore with 98% for Indian industry is telling you that nearly every case was placed in the top categories.
The council itself
The DAC was constituted in 2001 on the recommendation of the Group of Ministers that followed the Kargil Review Committee, when the government reorganised higher defence management. It is the highest decision-making body of the Ministry of Defence on capital procurement. The Raksha Mantri chairs it; the members include the Minister of State for Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff (a post created in January 2020), the three Service Chiefs, the Defence Secretary, the Secretaries of Defence Production and Defence Research and Development, and the Director General (Acquisition), who acts as Member Secretary.
For each case the council decides three things: whether the need is accepted, which category applies, and the approximate cost at which the case will be processed. Smaller cases never reach it — AoN for lower-value proposals is given by the Services' own capital acquisition committees or the Defence Procurement Board; the DAC takes the big-ticket items.
The hardware, decoded
Sarvatra. Designed by DRDO's Research and Development Establishment (Engineers), Pune, Sarvatra is a truck-mounted, multi-span mobile bridging system: five aluminium-alloy scissors bridges of 15 m each, carried on Tatra 8×8 vehicles, that can be laid end to end to bridge any gap from 15 m to 75 m. It is rated Military Load Class 60, enough for a main battle tank. Where an assault formation meets a canal or a dry nullah under fire, a bridge that goes down in minutes is the difference between momentum and a traffic jam.
Trawl tanks and mine layers. A mine trawl is a roller or plough assembly fitted to the front of a tank so that armour can breach a minefield without waiting for engineers; the AoN pairs these with Self-Propelled Mechanical Mine Layers, which do the reverse job — laying a defensive minefield quickly on a threatened axis. Together they are the offensive and defensive halves of mine warfare in a mechanised battle.
CBRN recce vehicles. These carry detectors and sampling gear to identify contamination and mark the edge of a contaminated area so that following troops can route around it. The Army's existing vehicles were developed by DRDO on the BMP-II chassis; the new AoN seeks a fresh generation.
Advanced Light Helicopter. The Dhruv, built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, is a twin-engine helicopter in the 5.5-tonne class, powered by the Shakti engine that HAL developed with Safran. It flies with all three Services and the Coast Guard; its armed variant is Rudra; the IAF's Sarang display team flies it. The day's approval covers both Army and IAF requirements.
Arudhra. A medium-power radar from DRDO's Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), Bengaluru — a 4D active electronically scanned array set already inducted by the IAF. The Navy will use it to replace the older Air Route Surveillance Radars that control air traffic and watch the skies around Naval Air Stations such as INS Hansa at Goa, INS Rajali at Arakkonam and INS Dega at Visakhapatnam.
Marine gas turbines. This is the most strategically interesting line. Indian warships run on two families of imported gas turbines: the American LM2500, built under licence by HAL's Industrial and Marine Gas Turbine division in Bengaluru for the Shivalik-class and Nilgiri-class frigates and the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant; and the Ukrainian Zorya-Mashproekt turbines on the Delhi, Talwar, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam classes. The war in Ukraine has made spares and overhaul of the second family a genuine vulnerability. India's own Kaveri marine gas turbine at the Gas Turbine Research Establishment reached only partial success. An AoN for design and development — not just purchase — of an Indian marine gas turbine is an attempt to close that gap, with BHEL among the agencies named for the effort.
GBMPJ and DEFSAC. The Ground-Based Multi-Purpose Jammer is electronic warfare: it degrades adversary radars so that aircraft and missiles are harder to track. DEFSAC replaces paper passes and permits with Radio Frequency Identification smart cards that all three Services can read — a small item with a large security payoff for cantonment and airbase access.
The same-day speech: numbers to carry
At an event in New Delhi the same evening, the Raksha Mantri set the DAC's decision inside a wider argument. He said the Services have been given "both freedom and resources to respond decisively to threats, including striking adversaries inside their own territory", cited the surgical strikes, the Balakot air strike and Operation Sindoor, and repeated that the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty carried the message that "blood and water cannot flow together". He drew a line between peace and weakness: a country that promotes terrorism against India will get no dialogue, only a military response.
The figures he used are the ones a question-setter will lift:
- Defence production has risen from about ₹40,000 crore before 2014 to about ₹1.80 lakh crore.
- Defence exports have grown 56-fold to over ₹38,000 crore; the target is ₹50,000 crore by 2029.
- The defence budget has grown from ₹2.5 lakh crore to about ₹8 lakh crore in 12 years.
- All 16 Defence Public Sector Undertakings are operating without losses.
- Over 16,000 MSMEs are in defence supply chains; the Defence Industrial Corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have drawn investment proposals of about ₹70,000 crore, of which about ₹10,000 crore is invested.
- Defence start-ups have grown from a few dozen in 2018 to more than 2,000, through iDEX and iDEX-Prime.
- India joined the Missile Technology Control Regime in 2016, which allowed the BrahMos range to be extended.
- A scramjet combustor was tested successfully in May, a step towards hypersonic weapons; DRDO-developed missile technologies are being transferred to private industry.
He also named the indigenous systems that now anchor the inventory — Akashteer air defence control, Akash, Pinaka, Astra, Prachand and Dhruv, Tejas, Arjun, and INS Vikrant — and said India is pursuing a sixth-generation fighter. For the political economy behind those names, the manufacturing sector notes and the council of ministers page, which explains cabinet committees such as the CCS, are the right background.
🔑 Revision block
The event. DAC under Rajnath Singh, 7 September 2026; AoN worth about ₹1.10 lakh crore; ~98% from Indian industry. Army items. CBRN recce vehicles, HMVs, mechanical mine layers, ALHs (with IAF), trawl tanks, Sarvatra bridges. Navy items. Arudhra radars for Naval Air Stations; design, development and procurement of marine gas turbines. Common items. Ground-Based Multi-Purpose Jammer; DEFSAC RFID cards. AoN. In-principle approval of need; first step under DAP 2020 (in force 1 October 2020); contract comes after RFP, trials, CNC and CFA sanction; CCS above ₹3,000 crore. DAC. 2001, post-Kargil GoM; RM chairs; CDS, Service Chiefs, Defence Secretary among members; DG (Acquisition) Member Secretary. Makers. Sarvatra — R&DE(E) Pune, 5 × 15 m = 75 m, MLC 60; Dhruv — HAL; Arudhra — LRDE Bengaluru; LM2500 — HAL Bengaluru under GE licence. Speech figures. Production ₹1.80 lakh crore; exports ₹38,000 crore+ (56×), target ₹50,000 crore by 2029; budget ₹2.5 → ₹8 lakh crore; 16 DPSUs; 16,000 MSMEs; 2,000+ start-ups; MTCR 2016.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The Defence Acquisition Council is chaired by the: (a) Chief of Defence Staff (b) Defence Minister (c) Prime Minister (d) Defence Secretary → (b).
Q2. Acceptance of Necessity is best described as: (a) the signing of a contract (b) in-principle approval of a procurement need (c) delivery acceptance of equipment (d) a budget allocation → (b).
Q3. Under DAP 2020, capital acquisition cases above ₹3,000 crore are finally approved by the: (a) Defence Procurement Board (b) Parliament (c) Cabinet Committee on Security (d) NITI Aayog → (c).
Q4. The Sarvatra bridging system was developed by: (a) HAL (b) BEL (c) DRDO's R&DE (Engineers), Pune (d) Bharat Dynamics → (c).
Q5. Sarvatra can bridge a gap of up to: (a) 30 m (b) 45 m (c) 60 m (d) 75 m → (d) — 5 spans of 15 m.
Q6. The Arudhra radar was developed by: (a) ISRO (b) LRDE, DRDO (c) HAL (d) ECIL → (b).
Q7. The LM2500 marine gas turbine used on INS Vikrant is assembled in India by: (a) BHEL (b) Mazagon Dock (c) HAL, Bengaluru (d) Cochin Shipyard → (c).
Q8. The DAC was constituted in: (a) 1991 (b) 1999 (c) 2001 (d) 2020 → (c).
Q9. Which DAP 2020 category carries the highest indigenous content? (a) Buy (Global) (b) Buy and Make (Indian) (c) Buy (Indian-IDDM) (d) Buy (Global – Manufacture in India) → (c).
Q10. India became a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime in: (a) 2008 (b) 2014 (c) 2016 (d) 2019 → (c).
Q11. The Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv is built by: (a) Tata Advanced Systems (b) Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (c) Bharat Forge (d) L&T → (b).
Q12. Consider the following: 1. DEFSAC replaces paper passes with RFID smart cards. 2. India's defence export target is ₹50,000 crore by 2029. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both (d) Neither → (c).
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Defence-procurement items appear in three shapes. The body item — who chairs the DAC, when it was formed, which committee gives final approval — with the CDS or the Defence Secretary planted as the wrong chair. The maker item — match Sarvatra, Arudhra, Dhruv, Akash and Pinaka to DRDO laboratories or DPSUs, usually as a matching list. The number item — export and production figures from the Raksha Mantri's speeches, offered with one figure shifted by a decade.
The fresh 2026 hook is the ₹1.10 lakh crore AoN and the marine gas turbine decision, likeliest to be asked as "which of the following was cleared for the Navy" or as a statement pair on what AoN means. We describe the recurring pattern, not any exact past question.
Preparing for NDA? Procurement questions reward candidates who know the chain, not just the headline. Start with our NDA study material hub, follow the daily NDA current affairs for every DAC meeting, and join our ex-officer faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Col D.N. Sharma — Defence & strategic affairs faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB / Ministry of Defence, 7 September 2026 (DAC release and the Raksha Mantri's address). Procurement procedure and equipment details cross-verified with DRDO, DAP 2020 and independent sources.