Opinion | The Big Reset In How India Builds Its Defence Is Here

Updated: Aug 25, 2026 16:44 pm IST Published On Aug 25, 2026 16:44 pm IST Last Updated On Aug 25, 2026 16:44 pm IST

Published On Aug 25, 2026 16:44 pm IST

Last Updated On Aug 25, 2026 16:44 pm IST

For decades, India's defence debate has been dominated by a familiar contradiction: ambitious military requirements but a slow acquisition system; a large scientific establishment but often inflexible project management; and a growing industrial base but insufficient access to cutting-edge technologies.

That contradiction is now being confronted simultaneously at several levels.

In a conversation with this author, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, who also holds charge as Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), outlined a timeline that is more significant than a list of individual weapons programmes. It is, in effect, a roadmap for changing how India buys, develops, finances, and ultimately owns military technology.

The first building block is Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2026.

The draft DAP 2026 is intended to make acquisition shorter, cleaner, and more responsive to the speed of technological change. The proposed framework reduces procurement categories from five to four, introduces technology-readiness-level-based categorisation, allows greater delegation, provides for two-stage trials, and seeks to monitor timelines from the RFI stage. It also raises indigenous content under the Buy Indian-IDDM category from 50% to 60%. Buy (Global) now must have 30 % IC obligations.

Further, DAP 2026 puts forth progressive indigenisation- Long Term Bulk Acquisition (LTBA), indigenous design capability, IP control-ownership. For example, Clause 26.1.1 demands the vendor to show/prove full design control, source code,

In an era of drones, autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, electronic warfare, and rapidly evolving sensors, a five-year procurement cycle can mean buying yesterday's technology tomorrow.

Singh's larger point is therefore important: the reform of acquisition must be about speed.

But speed in procurement alone will not make India technologically sovereign. That is where the second reform becomes critical.

From Procurement To R&D

One of the least-discussed constraints on India's defence technology ambitions has been the financing architecture for R&D.

DRDO has traditionally operated many projects within a system designed around sanctioned milestones,........

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