New Delhi: Defence minister Rajnath Singh has approved setting up of a committee to review the current policy of acquisition of weapons for defence forces in view of new security challenges.

The committee will be constituted at a time when defence forces have been complaining of delay in getting modern weapons due to procedure delays and neighbouring country China massively expanding its military, Navy and Air Force.

The committee under Director General (Acquisition) will revise the procedures to ensure that forces get weapons seamlessly and to ensure life cycle support for the acquired weapon system.

The committee has been set as Defence Procurement Procedure 2016 was due for revision.  The committee will get  six months to submit its recommendations.

“Aligning the procedures will ensure seamless flow from asset acquisition to life cycle support and strengthen the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government,” said defence ministry in a statement.

Besides, D-G (Acq) the committee will have 11 other members, not below the rank of joint secretary or equivalent of Major General in the Army.  The committee will give recommendations to remove procedural bottlenecks and hasten defence acquisition.

It will align and standardise the provisions in the DPP 2016 to optimise life cycle support for equipment. The committee will give recommendations to simplify policy and procedures to facilitate greater participation of Indian Industry and develop robust Defence Industrial base. The committee has been asked to examine and incorporate new concepts, such as life cycle costing, life cycle support, performance based logistics, lease contracting, codification and standardisation.

It will include provisions to promote Indian start-ups and research and development.It will look at any other aspect which will contribute towards refining the acquisition process and support the ‘Make in India’ initiative.