Context: Recently, Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared acquisition of 83 indigenous Tejas fighter aircraft for Indian Air Force (IAF) with more advanced configuration than the 40 currently on order.

• The procurement will be a major boost to 'Make in India' as the aircraft is indigenously designed, developed and manufactured.
• The DAC has also approved an amendment to the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016.
• This will bring about more transparency in costs and compress the timelines for negotiation of the contract.

About Tejas

• It is an Indian single-engine, delta wing, multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
• It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India’s ageing MiG-21 fighters.
• It is pegged as the world’s smallest and lightest supersonic Fighter Aircraft in its class.
• In 2003, the LCA was officially named “Tejas”.
• The proposal will now be placed for consideration of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

About Defence Acquisition Council

• It is the highest decision-making body in the defence ministry.
• Headed by Defence Minister
• It was set up in 2001 as part of the post-Kargil reforms in defence sector
• It approves the long-term integrated perspective plan for the forces. 
• It accords acceptance of necessity (AON) to begin acquisition proposals, and has to grant its approval to all major deals through all their important phases.
• It also has the power to approve any deviations in an acquisition, and recommends all big capital defence purchases for approval of the Cabinet committee on security (CCS) headed by the Prime Minister.