NEW DELHI: Indian defence company MKU Private Limited has bagged a deal from Ecuador to supply 40,000 body armour to enhance protection for its police force.
MKU had won a global tender in Ecuador for the contract and the company’s body armour chosen by the Ecuadorean Interior Ministry had gone through extensive tests and field trials before being selected as the winner of the tender.
The chosen body armour from MKU is tested and certified by the US National Institute of Justice (NIJ) as compliant to their most stringent standards.
The contract signing took place at MKU’s Kanpur office on Monday where Ecuadorean Interior Minister Jose Serrano Salgado was present. “This is the single largest export order received by an Indian company for body armour,” a release from MKU said.
While awarding the contract, Salgado congratulated the Indian firm and said, “MKU was selected on the basis of meeting all specifications and requirements as per the global tender.”
He added that his ministry’s decision was extremely important as the country likes to take the best decision for their people and police. “The lives of our police are the lives of our people,” he was quoted as saying.
The Ecuadorean delegation will be returning to India in a few months from now to hold a discussion with the Indian Home Ministry for a memorandum of understanding for a strategic alliance, Salgado said.
On the occasion, MKU chairman Manoj Gupta said, “MKU is extremely proud to receive the supply order from Ecuador.
“India is looked upon primarily as an importer of defence and security equipment. Orders like this will help in putting India on the export map of world class defence and security technology,” Gupta said.
“It was about 15 years ago that India had imported body armour for Kargil. It makes everyone at MKU very proud that today we have achieved the technological excellence to export these from India,” he added.
MKU, set up in 1985, has over 1,000-odd products in ballistic protection covering over 100 types of threats. It is a registered supplier to NATO since 1993 and has manufacturing facilities in India and Germany, supplying to over 230 forces in over 100 nations and organisations, including to the UN.