The county’s largest greenfield missile testing and assembly facility formally got off the ground at this town in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday at the hands of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) will set up the 914-acre, Rs.500-crore Defence Systems Integration Complex over the next three years.
The site is at Palasamudram in Gorantala mandal in Anantapur district. It is along the Bengaluru-Hyderabad NH7 highway, about 80 km from Bengaluru, where the defence public enterprise has its headquarters.
After ceremonially laying the foundation stone and unveiling a plaque, Mr. Parrikar said the integrated complex should herald special military industry zones. Arid Anantapur was suited for testing Defence systems in a moisture-free eco-system, he said.
The missiles are tested at BEL’s Bengaluru unit.
The Palasamudram facility will enable BEL to expand its missile systems business and carry out manufacturing and integration for ongoing Akash and upcoming projects. They include new generation SAM (surface to air missiles), quick response SAMs, futuristic battlefield systems, and advanced tactical communication systems, among others.
The facility includes a township and industrial suppliers’ complex. It will enable BEL to expand its missile systems business and carry out manufacturing and integration for ongoing Akash and upcoming projects, its CMD S.K Sharma said.
BEL already has older facilities at Machilipatnam and Hyderabad. The BEL complex nestles large tracts allotted to Airbus and NACEN.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said it was the biggest single investment to come up in one of India's most backward districts. It would rival BEL’ facilities in Bengaluru, he said, urging more investments from the defence public enterprise.
Also present were Union Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs M.Venkaiah Naidu; Minister of Sate for Civil Aviation P.Ashok Gajapathi Raju; and Minister of State for Science and Technology Y.S. Chowdary.
According to Mr. Sharma, “To achieve self-reliance in defence, there is need for a very strong indigenous R&D. BEL has launched collaborative research and development with private SMEs (small and medium enterprises). On an average, 80 per cent of BEL’s annual sales turnover is from indigenous research and development.”
The facility will have assembly hangars and hard stands for radars and weapon integration, RF radiation sources for target simulation, automatic test equipment, clean rooms for electronic assembly, non-explosive integration buildings, missile storage buildings,fiire stations, and solar power plant, among others.
