Asia-Pacific
India clears 2.12 trillion rupees of military procurement: kamikaze drones, counter-drone systems, helicopters and naval platforms
India’s Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Rajnath Singh, approved procurement worth about 2.12 trillion rupees for the three armed services on October 26, with roughly 82% to come from Indian industry.
New Delhi has set the tone for its next procurement steps. India’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Monday, October 26 approved procurement worth 2.12 trillion rupees (about 212,000 crore) for the country’s three armed services. The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and the main political message is domestic production: about 82% of the procurement will come from Indian industry.
The decision takes the form of an “Acceptance of Necessity” (AoN), in-principle administrative approval for capital procurement programmes, as India’s Ministry of Defence announced. The next phases of the process follow, until each programme ends in a contract.
The Army takes the largest share of systems
The Army’s list includes:
- high-mobility vehicles (HMV) for operations, logistics support and movement over rough terrain,
- a self-propelled tracked gun system, giving mechanised formations artillery with the same mobility,
- a Gun Shot Response System (GSRS) for real-time situational awareness,
- Light Multi-Role Helicopters (LMRH), to be used by both the Army and the Air Force for reconnaissance and surveillance, combat search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster response,
- a Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) against new-generation small aerial threats,
- a platform-mounted counter-drone system (C-UAS) to improve the survivability of battle tanks,
- the “Brick Long Range” unmanned system, a surveillance UAV, an integrated surveillance and strike system, and a long-range kamikaze drone system.
India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has already developed a domestic VSHORADS: a man-portable air defence system designed at the Research Centre Imarat and suitable for the Army, Navy and Air Force, which in February carried out three successful consecutive firings in final deployment configuration at the Chandipur test range off the coast of Odisha.
Navy and Air Force
For the Indian Navy, the Active Offboard Decoy System (AODS) was approved, which will strengthen ship defence mainly against modern anti-ship missiles. “Other major naval platforms”, designed and built in India, also received a green light, without types or numbers being named. The Navy’s turn to domestic production was also visible recently with INS Samarthak, the first multi-purpose vessel built by L&T.
The Indian Air Force will acquire helicopters, air defence systems, weapons and a mobile X-band Doppler weather radar. The Special Utility Helicopters will cover air transport needs, while the radar will monitor weather in forward areas, locally and at high resolution.
“Today’s approvals will help further strengthen the capabilities and readiness of our Armed Forces,” Singh wrote on X.
A call for “Aatmanirbharta 2.0”
The same day the Indian minister spoke at SWAVLAMBAN 2026, the Indian Navy’s seminar on innovation and strengthening domestic production, held in New Delhi on October 26-27, where he called for “Aatmanirbharta 2.0”, a second phase of self-reliance focused on advanced domestic technologies, research and development and resilient supply chains. As he noted, more than 4,000 proposals from start-ups and small and medium enterprises were submitted for the Navy’s 229 challenges through the iDEX programme.
On Tuesday, October 27, Singh left for Cebu in the Philippines, where he will take part in the 13th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus). India is also widening its defence cooperation in Europe, most recently through the agreement to expand defence cooperation between Greece and India.