BHUBANESWAR: Defence manufacturers and investors on Tuesday gave thumbs up to State Government’s new Aerospace and Defence Policy which provides incentives to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
Pitching for a strong public-private partnership, Chief Executive of Lockheed Martin India Phil Shaw said his company would be looking for aviation grade materials in Odisha. The American origin aerospace and defence major offers top-end technologies to Indian Armed Forces.
“Odisha provides a robust ecosystem for manufacturers as it has one of Odisha investment defence the best test ranges of the world for testing of arms and ammunition besides the materials. We are open to partnerships with small and medium enterprises of the State,” he said.
President (Manufacturing and Business) Punj Lloyd Limited, Ashok Wadhawan said the first-ever private sector rifles made by the company are now being used by police, CRPF and Armed Forces. “Odisha can focus on maintenance, repair and overhaul not just for aerospace but also weapons,” he pointed out.
Former Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Subrata Saha, who moderated a panel discussion, appreciated efforts of Odisha Government for its priority to defence and aerospace manufacturing. He was confident that development of a third defence industrial corridor is a strong possibility in Odisha.
Director, ITR, BK Das said defence manufacturers in the country are doing exceeding well. “Earlier we were depending on foreign countries for defence equipment. But, now we have indigenised most of our systems. India has developed the best-in-its-class re-entry tracking systems in the world without the support of any other country,” he said.
Commandant of Army Air Defence College Maj Gen PS Bhatia emphasised on collaborative approach by user, industry and academia to cater to the needs of Armed Forces. He said industry and academia have come out with path-breaking solutions to the problems of Army.
Earlier, Industries Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said provisions have been designed to attract key players to set up units which will provide impetus for further development of ancillary and downstream units in the State. It was announced that BEML and ITR would collaborate and organise an investors’ meet in January for MSMEs operating in aerospace and defence.