Defence Acquisition Procedure

Defence is the first and foremost technique we know as human beings. Life is precious to every one of us. To protect our lives, we all use defence as a self-protection mechanism. Like this, our country’s first line of protection is our Defence and military. They are the backbone of our country. In 2020, honourable prime minister Mr Narendra Modi started a new mission, Atmanirbhar Bharat – the step of ‘Made In India’. When everything in this atma nirbhar India has to be made in India, why leave our Defence. This is where we started the Defence Acquisition Procedure, acquiring military equipment and supplies.

What is Defence Acquisition Procedure?

The Defence Acquisition procedure is a process to support our armed forces by providing them with military equipment at reasonable prices to achieve national security. DAP ensures that the armed forces get the required military equipment and systems with good quality standards, under budget. The aim is to deal with the nation’s investment in technologies and programs in the nation itself and minimise the importing of weapons.

The DAP was first introduced in 2002 to systematically ensure the military gets the required equipment. Over the years, the defence acquisition council under which DAP falls has renewed many rules and guidelines. In 2020, the DAP guidelines and features were updated again as it falls under the Make in India project category.

Objective of DAP

The main objective of the defence acquisition procedure is to provide the military with the products or weapons according to their needs. The products have to be specific to increase their mission capabilities.

Another objective of introducing DAP is to ease the business proceedings. And to promote the making of weaponry and military equipment in India. Supporting domestic defence manufacturing will not only provide us security it will also be beneficial for our economy. So, our government wants to decrease the import of weapons and military platforms in our country. The military products which will come under the Defence Acquisition procedure are light tanks, communication equipment, airborne stand-off jammers, stimulators, etc.

Features of DAP

Some of the main features of the Defence Acquisition Procedure are:

• Streamlining India’s procurement system of Defence.
• Promoting atma nirbhar Bharat by increasing defence manufacturing.
• Select the best equipment as per quality standards and new technologies.
• Giving fair and adequate opportunities to vendors.
• Ensure timely availability of the equipment and platforms.
• Develop India as a Global Defence Manufacturing Hub.
• Minimise the import of weaponry into the country. ( Defence Acquisition council provides a list of weapons that are banned from importing )
• Focusing on Foreign Direct Investments.

Defence of Acquisition Categories

According to the defence acquisition procedure, the acquisition of defence equipment will be based on the mentioned categories:

• Buy (Indian – IDDM): IDDM here stands for – Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured.

Designed, developed, and manufactured in India with at least 50% of Indigenous content.

• Buy (Indian): Acquisition of equipment from Indian vendors with at least 60% of Indigenous content. Buy and Make (Indian): A minimum of 50% Indigenous content in the ‘Make’ portion.
• Buy (Global – manufacture in India): Purchasing equipment from foreign vendors, with indigenous manufacture of repairs and maintenance. (A minimum 50% IC)
• Buy (Global): Outright purchase with 30% IC.

Make Category

Make category includes designing, developing, and manufacturing weaponry, parts, systems, or assembly by Indian vendors using their workshops and depots.

The make category involves both the public and private sectors. The government-funded projects fall under the Make-I category, while the industry-funded projects fall Under Make-II. Make category also involves a third category known as Make III. Under this category falls the military hardware that can be manufactured in our country as a substitution for imports but may not be designed here. The Indian vendors can collaborate with foreign vendors for the same.

DAP – Future Endorsements

In the Union Budget, 68% of the military’s capital acquisition budget will purchase weapons and systems. All these weapons will be locally produced and manufactured. Other than that, 25% of the budget is for the private industry and start-ups to design and develop military platforms.

Conclusion

Our government is taking measures to keep our military updated with new innovative weaponry and equipment. DAP is another step in the procedure of making India an independent country. DAP will help boost our economy and be a safety measure too. This way, Indian vendors will get a chance as well, and the security of the military modernisation system will stay with us. The process was taken under the Make in India project in 2020, and new guidelines have been introduced. This has been implemented to give a fair chance to our Indian vendors of military equipment, ensure safety and boost our economy.