India's Defence Acquisition Council(DAC), operating under India's Ministry of Defence and chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, greenlit a INR2.38 trillion ($28.58bn) package on March 27 2026 spanning Russian-origin S-400 long range air defence batteries, unmanned strike platforms, transport aircraft, artillery, and specialised tank ammunition, Hindustan Times reported.

The breadth of the approvals signals the bolstering of equipment stocks which were purportedly highly effective in the May 2025 military confrontation with Pakistan during India’s Operation Sindoor.

According to a report by The Print citing unnamed Indian defence officials, the delivery of the last units in the previously contracted S-400 systems, manufactured by Russian state owned Almaz-Antey(MOEX:ALMAZANTEY), are also converging with the fresh order.

The fourth unit from India's original five-unit contract concluded with Russia in October 2018 at approximately $5bn under a government to government arrangement is likely to reach India by May or June 2026 and the fifth unit in the final quarter of the year.

The deliveries will resume after a delay of nearly three years attributable to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and Moscow likely prioritising backfilling and replacing its own forces’s combat losses.

The newly approved five additional S400 batteries will anchor Mission Sudarshan Chakra, a nationwide layered air defence shield Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on India’s Independence Day on August 15 2025, with a 2035 operational deadline.

Paired with the indigenous Project Khusha system roughly analogues to S400, the combined network will likely be capable of denying adversaries effective access across drone, advanced fighter, and missile threat categories. Separately, the DAC authorised the replacement of the Indian Air Force's Soviet-era transport fleet through the acquisition of 60 medium transport aircraft.

Three international competitors are vying for the contract, Lockheed Martin(NYSE:LMT), offering the C-130J Super Hercules in partnership with Tata Advanced Systems Limited; Embraer(NYSE:ERJ), whose KC-390 Millennium is backed by a tie-up with Mahindra & Mahindra(BSE:M&M); and Airbus Defence and Space(EPA:AIR) with its A-400M, though an Indian manufacturing partner has yet to be named.

All three are obligated to establish domestic production facilities under India's self-reliance manufacturing framework. The A-400M's 37-tonne payload capacity substantially exceeds the KC-390's 26 tonnes and the C-130J's 20 tonnes.

The new package also included Dhanush howitzers, armour-piercing tank ammunition, runway-independent surveillance systems, a tracked air defence platform, and encrypted tactical communications equipment.

These approvals follow a INR3.6 trillion clearance in February 2026 covering additional 114 Rafale jets, maritime patrol aircraft, and cruise missiles contracts expected to be formalised in the ongoing financial year. The expanding procurement pipeline is expected to generate durable revenue streams for both domestic defence manufacturers and international partners embedded in India's defence industrial ecosystem.