For the first time, Economic Explosives Limited (EEL), a Nagpur-based defense manufacturing company, on Tuesday handed over the first batch of fully indigenously manufactured Multi-Mode Hand Grenades (MMHG) to the Indian Army.
EEL Chairman SN Nuwal symbolically presented the grenade to Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh at a function held at the company’s 2,000-acre facility near Nagpur.
Addressing the gathering, Singh described the handing over of the MMHG as a major step towards increased cooperation between the public and private sectors and self-reliance in defense manufacturing.
“Today is a memorable day in the history of Indian defense sector. Our private industry is getting old when it comes to defense production. This is an important milestone not only in the field of defense manufacturing but also in achieving ‘Self-reliant India’ envisaged by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
Raksha Mantri appreciates DRDO and EEL for speedy delivery of orders COVID-19 restrictions and urged fast delivery of the next lot.
This is the first instance of ammunition being manufactured by private industry in India.
EEL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Solar Industries India Limited, started the delivery of advanced hand grenades to the armed forces last month. So far the first consignment of 1 lakh mmHg has been delivered.
Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane, DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy and Director General of Infantry Lt Gen AK Samantara were present on the occasion.
EEL had signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense on October 1, 2020 for the supply of one million modern hand grenades to the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force. Delivery will be spread over two years.
These new grenades will replace the old design grenade No. 36 of the First World War, which was in service to this day.
“MMHGs have a distinctive design giving flexibility of employment in both defensive (fragmentation) and offensive (stun) modes. They have highly accurate delay times, have great reliability in use and are safe for carriage,” According to the press release of the Ministry of Defense.
The grenade has been designed by DRDO’s Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory. EEL had acquired the technology from DRDO in 2016.
Extensive summer and winter trials in plains, deserts and high altitude areas were successfully conducted by the Indian Army and DGQA in 2017-18.
“The grenade manufactured by EEL had a vastly superior reliability of 99.8 per cent, against the requirement of 95 per cent reliability of the General Staff Qualitative Requirement (GSQR). The success of the mmHG story is further enhanced by its use of 100 per cent indigenous ingredients,” the release said. added.
– Stay updated with the latest news from Pune. Follow Express Pune twitter here and on facebook here. You can also connect with our Express Pune telegram channel here.
Singh listed out the measures taken to transform the defense sector into a self-sustaining industry that can meet the present and future needs of the armed forces. He called for setting up of Defense Industrial Corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, drafting Defense Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020, earmarking 64 per cent modernization fund under Capital Acquisition Budget for 2021-22 for procurement from domestic companies. Spoken. Notifying two positive indigenization lists of over 200 defense items to boost self-reliance and defense exports, Incorporation of Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), raising FDI limit from 49 to 74 per cent under automatic route and through government route. 74 per cent above and giving top priority to “Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured” category for capital procurement.
Singh also talked about the technology transfer initiative to industries by DRDO, lauding the latter for “being an incubator for free transfer of technology as well as providing access to testing facilities and over 450 patents”. .
Singh lauded the industry for indigenously developed products like Multi-Mode Grenades, Arjun-Mark-1 Tank, Unmanned Surface Vehicle and Sea Through Armour. “Such products are not only being produced but also being exported on a large scale. The number of online export authorizations from 2016-17 to 2018-19 was 1,210. It has increased to 1,774 in the last two years. This has resulted in defense exports of over Rs 17,000 crore in the last two years.
Singh also visited BrahMos Aerospace at Borkhedi near here, a DRDO facility that manufactures BrahMos missiles.
Singh was also expected to visit the RSS headquarters to meet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, but the visit did not take place.
.