New defence rules seeks to make India ‘design powerhouse’

THe outline defence acquisition process (DAP-2026) has position the spot on defence technology owned by bharat and not just made in India, a step aimed at becoming “a design powerhouse of the world,” the defence ministry said.This marks a doctrinal departure from the initial phase of ‘indigenisation’ that primarily covered manufacturing foreign equipment or components on Indian soil, the draft DAP published on Tuesday said.“For next decade, the metric of success is not just ‘Made in India’, but ‘Owned by India’.“We are shifting the focus from Transfer of Technology (ToT), which often results in dependency on legacy systems, to co-development and intellectual property (IP) ownership. Capital acquisitions would prioritise the retention of source codes, critical design data, and upgrade authority within Indian entities,” the ministry said.The DAP seeks to provide a boost to Indian designed and developed equipment with renewed aggression, ensuring that the nation’s money recirculates within the domestic economy, nurturing a supply chain that ranges from the semiconductor labs to precision forges of the country.“At the same time, cutting edge of national defence will be maintained by procuring the critical equipment through foreign routes as well as commencing parallel development of domestic alternatives. Booming human and industrial capital of the nation will also be supported by this DAP by matching the needs of defence forces, foreign direct investments and infusion of high end technological skill sets by foreign plants in India,” the ministry said.The defence ministry has sought the comments of all stakeholders on the DAP by March 3.The ministry said that the primary challenge for the acquisition process in the foreseeable future would not be budget constraints, but obsolescence.“The rate of technological change in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, new tech drones and directed energy weapons now outpaces the traditional 2-3-year acquisition cycle. This DAP introduces “Procurement Protocols” for such fast-evolving systems. It also acknowledges that in the era of multi-domain warfare, software is equally a deadly weapon along with the hardware weapons. Therefore, this DAP has focused on upgrades being an equally important part of acquisition as is the equipment.”This DAP is the navigation chart for the middle leg of India’s journey to 2047, the ministry said. “It glues the modernisation of defence forces and development of a complete defence manufacturing ecosystem. By the end of next decade, when effects of this DAP fructify in the defence environment, India shall no longer be aspiring for great power status; we shall be exercising it.”The Department of Defence has prepared the draft DAP-2026 to propel jointness, atmanirbharta and integration, force modernisation, and speed of acquisition with scaling of production, leading to the growth and development of defence ecosystem in the country, the ministry said in a statement.“The draft aims to align India’s defence acquisition with the rapidly evolving geo-strategic landscape, growth of Indian economy, skilling of human capital, growth of private defence industry in the country and the technological imperatives of modern warfare.”