Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) and Acceptance of Necessity (AoN)
The Defence Acquisition Council is the apex decision-making body of the Ministry of Defence for capital acquisitions for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. It was constituted in 2001 following the Kargil Review Committee and Group of Ministers recommendations on national security reforms. The article attributes the pace of warship commissioning partly to the Navy receiving multiple Acceptances of Necessity (AoNs) from the DAC in a timely manner.
- DAC is chaired by the Defence Minister; members include the Chief of Defence Staff and the three service chiefs (Army, Navy, Air Force)
- AoN is the DAC's first-stage, in-principle approval that a capability/platform is needed — it precedes the Request for Proposal (tender), trials, cost negotiation, and contract signing stages
- The full procurement process is governed by the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020, which operationalises the "Atmanirbhar Bharat" (self-reliant India) policy and raises indigenous-content thresholds
- DAP 2020 procurement categories (in order of indigenisation preference): Buy (Indian – IDDM), Buy (Indian), Buy and Make (Indian), Buy (Global – Manufacture in India), Buy (Global)
● Tracked since July 12, 2026 · last seen September 07, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
See it in today’s brief.
Daily current affairs with every static concept explained in place.
Read the daily brief