₹1.1 lakh crore DAC package tests whether Indian sourcing can become Indian technological control

The Defence Acquisition Council has opened the door to roughly ₹1.1 lakh crore of military procurement, with the Ministry of Defence saying 98% will be sourced from Indian industry. The headline is large. The more consequential story is underneath it: India is pairing near-term capability acquisition with an indigenous radar replacement and a design-and-development pathway for marine gas turbines—the kind of propulsion technology that determines whether a navy can build and sustain major warships without a foreign bottleneck.