These weapons and systems will be indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has cleared the purchase of indigenous weapons, equipment, platforms, and systems worth over Rs 13,000 crore for the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy.

The nod for indigenous procurement of systems and equipment designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is being seen as another push towards an Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India).

After going through capital acquisition proposals, three Acceptance of Necessities (AoNs) for an overall cost of Rs 13,700 crore were accorded during the DAC meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Defence, all these AoNs are in the highest priority category of Defence Acquisition, 'Buy [Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)].

"All these acquisition proposals will be indigenously designed, developed and manufactured. These will include inter-alia platforms and systems designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)," the ministry said in a statement.

The approval comes a day after the Defence Minister said that over 63 percent of the country's defence budget, or over Rs 70,000 crore, had been set aside for domestic procurements.

The defence ministry added that to meet the Atmanirbhar Bharat goals on time-bound defence procurement process and faster decision making and to systematically work towards reducing the time taken for capital acquisition, the DAC also approved that all capital acquisition contracts (delegated and non-delegated) other than D&D cases shall be concluded in two years.

The ministry said it would come up with a detailed plan of action for this, in consultation with the Services and all stakeholders.