G to G: The Go To Model for India’s Defence Acquisitions

Representative Image India Defence Industry by Wix AI

A Draft of the much-heralded Defence Acquisition Procedure has now been released for public comments, even though the time given for the same may be less by March 03. Yet there is a workable document on which relevant stakeholders can now provide their inputs to the Department of Defence, Ministry of Defence. The “Procedure for Acquisition of Aero Space Systems,” is being worked separately in consultation with the stake holders as per the DAP Draft.

Given criticism of the voluminous nature of the previous versions of the DAPs, the current version has two parts: a draft Defence Acquisition Procedure 2026 of 140 pages, and the more voluminous Handbook on Guidelines and Annexures, which contains the detailed explanation of the operationalisation of the DAP, totalling 632 pages.

This is a welcome development and will serve stakeholders appropriately by providing the framework and policy in the shorter document, along with the details in the Handbook. DAP, per se, is a legal document on which contracts are based, and thus simplifying or shortening it will be at the cost of ambiguity, with long-term repercussions best avoided.

The main theme here is not commenting on the DAP 2026 per se which will be carried out subsequently, but highlighting how despite the voluminous documents in the past and the present, most platform acquisitions are carried out in the Government-to-Government or G to G format. Alternatively, a B to B, particularly when the recipient is a Defence Public Sector Undertaking is preferred.

Some recent examples of the same are well known but reiterated for reference (1) Proposal for acquisition of 114 French Rafale jets from the Dassault Aviation stable, incidentally 36 jets of the same fighter were acquired through the G to G route despite a very exhaustive competitive procurement undertaken by the Ministry of Defence which spread to almost a decade and a half.

(2) On February 17, Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and French President Mr Emmanuel Macron virtually inaugurated, Tata Advanced Systems Final Assembly Line of the Airbus H-125 Light Utility Helicopter, located at Vemagal, Karnataka. Indian Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh, French Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Ms Catherine Vautrin, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Shri KR Naidu and Minister for Large & Medium Industries, Government of Karnataka Dr MB Patil were present at the Final Assembly Line facility during the virtual inauguration.

(3) An MoU on Joint Venture was also signed for the manufacturing of Hammer missiles in India between by the CMD, Bharat Electronics Limited and Executive Vice President, Safran Electronics and Defence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to visit Israel in a couple of days, and several G-to-G or B-to-B agreements are anticipated.

France and Israel are not the only countries that use a G-to-G format. The United States has also been exporting major platforms and support equipment under this route to India as listed in the past few years. These include (1) MQ9 Reaper- 31 HALE Drones, (2) Javelin Anti Tank Missiles and (3) Ex Calibur munitions.  A possible procurement of Boeing P 8 I Maritime surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft is also in the pipeline.

In the Indo-US B-to-B segment, General Electric is providing 212 F-404 engines for the LCA Mark 1A, and negotiations are ongoing for the F-414 between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and GE on a B-to-B basis, with the approval of both governments.

The acquisition of the Russian S-400 air and missile system was also on G-to-G, finally inked in 2018, and now additional missiles are being procured to recoup losses during Operation Sindoor.

G to G, known in government parlance as the Inter Government Agreement (IGA), has been included as Para 20 of the Acquisition Categories of the Draft DAP 2026.

An IGA is explained as an “agreement between the Government of India and the Government of any friendly foreign country for the procurement of defence equipment, platforms or technologies based on strategic, military or diplomatic considerations. It enables acquisition on a single vendor basis outside standard procurement procedures, governed by mutually agreed terms between governments”.

IGA may also support co-development, co-production, leasing, or long-term product support, as per the norms of Chapter II of DAP 2026.

Not all major platforms are acquired through government-to-government deals; other options like competitive bidding are also available. For example, in the case of submarines for the Indian Navy under the Project 75 (India) program, companies such as Spain’s Navantia participated in a competitive process, according to a report from Navantia.

South Korea and Russia were also in the initial bidding process. However, the process proved to be long-drawn, resulting in delays, and commercial negotiations between the Indian Defence Public Sector shipyard, Mazagon Docks, and TKMS, the German defence major, are presently ongoing.

Perhaps this explains why a G to G contract is preferred, especially when a strategic agreement with information sharing is in place, as with France, Russia, and Israel.

Given that many large platforms use proprietary technologies controlled by the seller government, final approval is essential.

G to G avoids the time lag evident in the competitive bidding and most foreign companies would avoid competition and may thus seek this as the preferred route.

In the days ahead, India may increasingly adopt B2B, as some private sector companies are making inroads into defence manufacturing.