Army Gives BEL The Go-ahead To Purchase A Weapon-locating Radar Variant For Mountain

Senior Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) officials have informed us that the Indian Army has given BEL orders to purchase six Swathi Mark II Weapon Locating Radars (WLR) for use in mountainous terrain.

To address a long-felt requirement of the Indian Army, Radar House Electronics and Radar Creation Establishment (LRDE), a top lab of the Defence Research Development Organization, and BEL have collaborated on the development of the WLR mountain variant.

Anandi Ramalingam, chairman and managing director of BEL, The Indian Army had just ordered a mountainous version of WLR that could be employed at greater altitudes. The Army has bought six of them since it is less in weight. It’s a fresh variation. We anticipate receiving additional orders. WLR is exclusively native.

BEL officials say that 30 units of the earlier variant of WLR are already with the Army and based on its performance across the Line of Control (LoC), a lighter weight version was requested by the Army.

Ramalingam responded to the question of whether simulation may speed up testing by saying, “The trial through simulation has started only now but for the big systems like WLR, the user wants to try it in varied terrains and temperatures.”

Under the condition of anonymity, a BEL official described WLR’s capabilities as “the ability to find enemy guns from around and relay the data of the required target to the counter fire elements for retaliatory strike before the target is redeployed. It automatically detects hostile weapons, mortars, and rocket launchers firing from up to 80 kilometres away. The sophisticated algorithms handle the identification, localization, and tracking of the necessary targets.

The radar can handle simultaneous fire from weapons stationed at various locations and is built to detect projectiles that have been fired toward friendly positions with small cross sections across the battlespace horizon. This will enable us to respond in kind.

The Instrumented Electronic Warfare Range (IEWR), Avionics Package for Light Combat Aircraft, Gun Electronic Upgrade, and Electronic Warfare Systems for Ships are only a few of the orders that the defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited has received from the armed forces during 2021–2022.