Defence Ministry Seals Rs 5,300 Crore Pact With BEL For Cutting-Edge Defence Technologies

Indian Army will get electronic fuzes from state-run Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) for 10 years, according to a deal signed by the defense ministry on Friday. The value of the deal is over Rs 5,300 crore.

Military operations need long-lasting artillery firepower, and an electronic fuze is an important part of medium to heavy calibre artillery guns.

The ministry said that the fuzes are being bought so that they can be used in artillery guns that can kill in a variety of terrain, even high-altitude areas near the Arctic border.

It said that the project’s goal is to increase the amount of ammunition that is stored so that less from other countries needs to be brought in.

“The Ministry of Defence on December 15 signed a landmark contract with Bharat Electronics Ltd, Pune for procurement of electronic fuzes for the Indian Army for a period of 10 years, at a total cost of Rs 5,336.25 crore,” the announcement said.

“As part of the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ vision, this contract has been signed for ammunition procurement under ‘manufacture of ammunition for Indian Army by Indian industry’, a government initiative for long term requirement of 10 years,” a statement from the ministry stated.

The goal of the project, according to the statement, is to make ammunition production self-sufficient, get important technologies, and protect stock that could be lost if the supply chain is interrupted.

In its Pune Plant and its soon-to-be-built Nagpur Plant, BEL will make the electronic firing devices.

“The project will generate employment for one-and-half lakh man days and encourage active participation of Indian industries including MSMEs in ammunition manufacturing and broaden ammunition manufacturing ecosystem in the country,” the ministry stated.