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DRDO issued an Expression of Interest on 18 August 2026 through Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad, inviting Indian private firms to become long-term partners in missile and guided bomb production.
The proposal uses the Development-cum-Production Partner model: DRDO keeps design and development, the private partner takes prototype integration, qualification and series production.
It covers strategic weapon systems including the Agni series, submarine-launched systems and hypersonic missiles under development.
Applicants must hold defence manufacturing and PESO licences, show a net worth above Rs 34 crore and profitability in at least two of the last five years, with a minimum annual turnover of Rs 100 crore.
DRDO plans to select at least two companies for each weapon project, with bulk production orders of 50 to 100 units; proposals close on 24 September 2026 after a technical discussion on 2 September.
In the conventional route, DRDO designs a weapon and then transfers the technology to a defence public sector undertaking for manufacture. The DcPP model brings the manufacturer in earlier and keeps it in longer. DRDO retains the design and development stage, where the intellectual property and the strategic sensitivity sit. The private partner takes prototype integration, testing support, qualification of the weapon and then scale-up to series production, working with the supply chain DRDO identifies. Because the partner has built the prototypes, it does not have to relearn the product when bulk orders arrive - the usual source of delay when technology is transferred at the end. Selecting at least two partners per project keeps a second source alive and preserves competition for the eventual production order.
Simple Analogy: Handing an architect's finished drawings to a builder who has never seen the site wastes months; keeping the builder on from the first prototype does not.
India's military research agency, working across missiles, electronics, aeronautics, armaments and combat systems
DRDO laboratory for missile systems, guided weapons and advanced avionics; issued the Expression of Interest for the Missile and Strategic Systems cluster
Regulates the manufacture, storage and handling of explosives, petroleum and compressed gases; its licence is a precondition for handling military-grade explosives
The DcPP route sits alongside positive indigenisation lists and defence corridors as instruments for reducing import dependence in weapon systems.
The Agni family is India's land-based ballistic missile line for strategic deterrence; the Agni-V is an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of over 5,000 km.
RCI belongs to the Hyderabad missile complex named after Kalam, who founded RCI itself in 1988.
GS Paper III > Security - defence indigenisation and technology; Science and Technology - achievements of Indians in science
General Knowledge > DRDO, missile systems and defence production
General Awareness > Defence organisations and current affairs
General Awareness > Defence and current affairs
A private firm selected to industrialise a DRDO-designed weapon system - handling prototype integration, qualification and series production - while DRDO retains design and development.
A preliminary tender instrument used to identify and shortlist capable firms before a formal procurement or partnership process.
A licence from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, required to manufacture, store or handle explosives - indispensable for missile and warhead work.
The DRDO cluster that runs India's missile and strategic weapons programmes, including the Agni series and hypersonic systems.