The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has uploaded the draft Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2026 on its website seeking stakeholder comments. The draft is intended to propel jointness, Atmanirbhar Bharat, integration, force modernisation and speed of acquisition while scaling production to develop the national defence ecosystem. It aims to align defence procurement with evolving geo-strategic realities, economic growth, skills development and the growth of the private defence industry.

DAP-2026, if approved, will replace the Defence Acquisition Procedure-2020 and will institutionalise preference for Buy (Indian) in the Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) category to boost domestic manufacturing and reduce imports. The procedure proposes categorisation and procurement strategies based on technological availability and manufacturing readiness and introduces dedicated routes for rapid acquisition of equipment with short technology cycles. It advocates spiral design and incremental procurement of major platforms and encourages evaluation of indigenous design and indigenous content in a pragmatic manner.

The draft proposes easing of financial and experience criteria to widen participation and delegation of decision making to accelerate procurement timelines. It recommends revamping trials and quality assurance processes and an aggressive infusion of digitisation and automation in acquisition procedures. There is emphasis on retention of intellectual property rights, incentives for innovation and use of indigenous military material. The document signals intent to promote defence exports while limiting imports to items that are domestically unavailable or critical only.

The draft document and accompanying handbook and annexures have been uploaded on the MoD website and stakeholders are invited to send comments in pdf or MS Word format within three weeks, that is by 03.03.2026, to the addresses specified on the site. The ministry clarified that the Defence Procurement Manual 2025 deals with maintenance and sustenance under the revenue head while the Defence Acquisition Procedure relates to capital procurement under the capital head. DAP-2026 is presented as a framework to weave national security and technological growth into a single thread for Viksit Bharat-2047.