Abstract
India’s defence industrial base has expanded rapidly under successive policy reforms, and the draft Defence Acquisition Procedure 2026 carries that effort further. This paper argues that the binding constraint on capability acquisition has moved from the procedure to the institutional architecture that applies it. Accountability for capability rests with the user, while authority over acquisition is distributed across organisations that answer for process. The paper proposes differentiated acquisition regimes for strategic platforms, mature systems and fast-moving digital technologies, with common frameworks to keep networked systems interoperable; a revised approval architecture with a higher CCS threshold and delegation matched by auditability; a living capability plan; a clearer division between DRDO development and procurement; user ownership of acquisition through Project Management Organisations; risk-based quality assurance; greater autonomy for DPSUs; and a leaner acquisition establishment. It proposes time to capability as the governing measure of performance.
