Defence Ministry Clears ₹79,000 Crore Procurement Package to Strengthen Armed Forces

New Delhi — In a major boost to India’s military modernisation drive, the Ministry of Defence on Thursday approved capital acquisition proposals worth about ₹79,000 crore to upgrade the combat capabilities of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force.

The defence purchases were cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The package includes high-priority weapons and systems such as the Nag anti-tank missile system (tracked Mk-II / NAMIS) for the Army, Landing Platform Docks (LPDs), 30 mm Naval Surface Guns (NSG), Advanced Light Weight Torpedoes (ALWT) and smart ammunition for 76 mm rapid gun mounts for the Navy, together with electronic-intelligence and surveillance platforms and high-mobility logistics vehicles.

These approvals were accorded as Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) — the first formal step in the procurement cycle.

What this means operationally

• Army: The induction of the tracked Nag Mk-II anti-tank missile will markedly increase the Army’s ability to neutralise enemy armoured vehicles, fortified bunkers and field fortifications at standoff ranges.
• Ground-Based Mobile ELINT systems will provide continuous electronic intelligence on adversary emitters, improving situational awareness. High-mobility vehicles with material-handling cranes will streamline logistics in difficult terrain and speed operational mobility.
• Navy: New LPDs (large amphibious warships) will enhance the Navy’s ability to conduct amphibious operations, joint expeditionary missions with the Army and Air Force, and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HADR) missions.
• The approved torpedoes, electro-optical infrared search-and-track systems and smart ammunition for rapid-fire guns will strengthen naval anti-surface and anti-submarine combat capability.
• Air Force and joint needs: The package also covers long-range systems and surveillance platforms that will contribute to integrated, multi-domain operations across land, sea and air.

Procurement reform — DPM 2025 released.

At the same event, Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh released the Defence Procurement Manual (DPM) 2025, which the Ministry says will come into effect on 1 November 2025.

The new DPM is intended to simplify and speed up revenue-procurement processes, enable roughly ₹1 lakh crore of revenue procurement by the Services and other MoD establishments, and promote uniformity, transparency and accountability.

It also aims to expand opportunities for MSMEs and startups in defence manufacturing and technology.

Wider significance and some context

• The DAC’s AoN for these projects signals the government’s ongoing push for modernisation and indigenisation (“Make-in-India”) of critical defence platforms — several of the items in the package are slated for domestic production or local industrial participation. Observers view the package as the second major tranche of approvals for force modernisation after the larger set cleared in August 2025 (approx. ₹67,000 crore).
• Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) is an early but important procurement milestone: it confirms operational requirement and authorises the project to move into detailed procurement stages (RFI/RFP, vendor selection, contracting and production). Delivery and operational induction will follow at project-specific timelines once contracts are signed.

Bottom line

The ₹79,000-crore package and the contemporaneous DPM 2025 together aim to (a) rapidly bolster frontline combat and surveillance capabilities across services, (b) make procurement faster and more predictable, and (c) widen the industrial base — including MSMEs and startups — for defence manufacturing. If implemented smoothly, these steps should improve India’s operational readiness and accelerate indigenisation of critical defence systems.

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