India's Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on March 18 finalised the contractual terms for the procurement of 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk 1A fighters from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for an estimated 36,000 to 38,000 Crore (approximately above $5 Billion)

The proposal will now be sent for political approval by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The contract is widely expected to be signed within the next few weeks.

"While orders of 40 Tejas aircraft had been placed with HAL in initial configurations, DAC paved the way for procurement of 83 of the more advanced Mk1A version of the aircraft from HAL by finalising the contractual and other issues," the Ministry of Defence declared in a statement

This is set to be the most significant Make in India Defence procurement programme so far, and is expected to stimulate the emergence of a supply chain to feed indigenous defence manufacturing.

"While orders of 40 Tejas aircraft had been placed with HAL in initial configurations, DAC paved the way for procurement of 83 of the more advanced Mk1A version of the aircraft from HAL by finalising the contractual and other issues," the Ministry of Defence declared in a statement.

"This procurement will be a major boost to 'Make in India' as the aircraft is indigenously designed, developed and manufactured with participation of several local vendors apart from HAL," it added.

For the first time, the DAC meeting was held with the Acquisitions Wing of the Department of Defence notified as the Secretariat for the DAC. This underlined the continuing primacy of the civilian Department of Defence in capital procurements for the armed forces

The DAC, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, also approved indigenous procurement of Aerial Fuses and Twin-Dome Simulators for Hawk Mk32 aircraft for the Indian Air Force at a cost of 1,300 Crore.

An amendment to the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 was also approved at this meeting to enable review by a Costing Committee of bids submitted by Joint Ventures of Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs)/Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)/DRDO in procurements on a nomination basis. "This will bring about more transparency in costs and compress the timelines for negotiation of the contract," the statement elaborated.

The DAC, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, also approved indigenous procurement of Aerial Fuses and Twin-Dome Simulators for Hawk Mk32 aircraft for the Indian Air Force at a cost of 1,300 Crore

For the first time, the DAC meeting was held with the Acquisitions Wing of the Department of Defence notified as the Secretariat for the DAC. This underlined the continuing primacy of the civilian Department of Defence in capital procurements for the armed forces.

The notification of the Acquisitions Wing as the Secretariat for the DAC is significant in the context of the restructuring of the Ministry of Defence and the separation of powers between the Department of Defence and the newly raised Department of Military Affairs headed by the Chief of Defence Staff.

"This would lead to better coordination and faster processing of cases with the Acquisition wing being in the overall charge of the Capital acquisition process," the Ministry of Defence statement added.