NEW DELHI: The Indian Army has added portable explosive detectors to a growing list of counter-IED equipment it plans to acquire. It has launched the process to procure around 350 hand-held systems that can identify explosive traces without physical contact.
According to a request for information (RFI) issued by the Combat Engineers Directorate at Army Headquarters earlier this week, the hand-held systems must detect and identify traces of military, commercial and improvised explosives without physical contact, enabling what the Army describes as “safe stand-off inspection.”
The requirement comes as security forces continue to recover IEDs in Jammu and Kashmir, while the Army upgrades a range of equipment used to detect, approach and neutralise explosive threats.
Security forces last Sunday defused an IED in Awneera village in south Kashmir’s Shopian district. In April, the Army recovered a 14.3 kg IED planted on the Zainapora-Chitragam road in Shopian to target a security forces convoy. In February, a search operation in Poonch’s Mendhar sub-division led to the recovery of a 4.5 kg IED, a smaller device and two Chinese grenades.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested two more accused in the January 1 IED blast at the Nalagarh police station in Himachal Pradesh, taking the number of arrests in the case to eight. Last November, a car laden with explosives blew up near Delhi’s Red Fort, killing at least 15 people. Security agencies seized nearly 3,000 kg of explosives from locations linked to the module suspected to be behind the attack.
The latest requirement is part of a broader effort to strengthen the Army’s counter-IED and bomb-disposal capability. Earlier this month, the Combat Engineers Directorate sought information on around 250 telescopic manipulators that would allow bomb-disposal teams to examine and handle suspicious objects from at least four metres away. In May, the defence ministry floated a tender worth around Rs. 290 crore for 386 dual-technology mine detectors capable of detecting both metallic and non-metallic mines and IEDs.
The portable detectors will add another layer to that capability. The Army wants them to identify organic and inorganic explosives in vapour, liquid, powder, particle and mixed forms. They must produce a result within 30 seconds.
The force has not prescribed a detection technology at this stage. The procurement will fall under the Buy (Indian-IDDM), Buy (Indian) and Buy and Make (Indian) categories of the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020. Vendors must state whether at least half of the overall indigenous content will comprise material, components or software manufactured in India. They must also disclose locally made subsystems, critical spares and manufacturing capacity in India.
India has been building domestic capability in this area. In 2024, explosive detectors developed by Electronics Corporation of India Limited, the Department of Atomic Energy and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) were handed over to the Intelligence Bureau for deployment with security forces.
Furthermore, in February last year, the Army inked a Rs.80 crore contract with Larsen & Toubro for 223 DRDO-designed chemical agent detectors.
The RFI is the first step before the Army frames its final requirements and issues a request for proposal. As per the procurement process, the equipment that clears technical evaluation will undergo field trials in India on a no-cost, no-commitment (NCNC) basis, after which the lowest-cost compliant bidder will be selected.
