The State-run HMT Machine Tools at Kalamassery, which made a foray into defence production last year by making a ship-borne positioning mechanism called directing gears for sonars developed by DRDO lab Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), looks set to cement its position in defence manufacturing by bagging more orders for sonar directing gear.
HMT is bracing to deliver its second directing gear, costing just over Rs 5 crore, to Bharat Electronics this month placing it in good stead to win orders for five more units for fitment on Indian naval ships.
Bharat Electronics, a central PSU, integrates complete sonar systems designed and developed by NPOL.
In a rare achievement, HMT successfully indigenised directing gear manufacture when it delivered the first of the three units for Myanmarese offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) last September. The contract, valued at Rs 16 crore, requires it to deliver two more directing gear units this year.
Sources told The Hindu that the directing gear to be delivered now would be fitted on Indian naval frigate INS Brahmaputra. “Some underwater components that are part of the directing gear would be delivered next week and the whole system before the month-end,” they said. HMT received some hand-holding by NPOL in indigenising the directing gear for the lab’s export variant hull mounted sonar, fitted on warships to track enemy submarines.
The development enthused the Indian Navy which is now contemplating retrofitting its warships with new versions of hull-mounted sonars coupled with Indian directing gears. While HMT enjoys the niche of being the only Indian manufacturer of sonar directing gears, it is bound by a pact with the Bharat Electronics which restricts it from independently manufacturing directing gears for a period of five years.
“However, there’s scope for growth as we are one of the three manufacturers of directing gear globally. With the DRDO exploring options to export Indian sonars, Indian directing gears made by us will also have a global market,” said an HMT official.
