HYDERABAD: “A major portion of the weapon systems we procured from other countries have been indigenised as part of Make in India,” Commodore (retd) Siddhartha Mishra, Chief Managing Director of the Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), said on Saturday. He was speaking at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the missile maker in Kanchanbagh.
According to Mishra, 75 to 90 per cent of the weapon systems procured from France, Russia and Italy has been indigenised. “We have signed many MoU’s with private partners in the defence sector in this regard,” he said. Explaining further, he stated that the production of sophisticated weapons such as SS1b1 and Medium Range Surface-to-Missile (MRSAM) in the country has helped India in saving foreign currency to a large extent.
During the celebrations, Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh handed over the MRSAM to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria received it on behalf of the Air Force.“Taking forward ‘Make in India’ scheme, the BDL has made changes in the procedure for producing defence equipment with the help of private industries. With this, even the private industries can help us indigenise weapons by producing prototypes of essential defence equipment,” Mishra added. The BDL chief also informed that they are currently working on the Amogh missile in their own R&D facility. Meanwhile, the defence minister unveiled a statue of late President APJ Abdul Kalam during the event.