V. Srinivas, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command, flagged off two underwater arrays christened “Maareech,” Indian Navy’s Advanced Torpedo Decoy System (ATDS), at the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd (Keltron) Controls, Aroor, on Monday.
Talking on the occasion Mr. Srinivas hailed the measures being taken by the Indian defence force for indigenisation. The national flavour at the moment is to ensure that the Indian defence forces are completely free of dependence from outside our country. This calls for a seamless confluence between the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratories (NPOL), Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), the development collaborators and production units like Keltron.
He was full of praise for the kind of work done by Keltron for the Indian defence forces. “As far as the defence sector is concerned, your support has been extremely important to us. I must congratulate all of you for the kind of products you have been sending to us, especially Mareech that has been flagged off just now. You are the technical brains and hands we are all looking forward to support us to be efficient at sea and come out as winners,” Mr. Srinivas said.
There are many areas that Keltron can develop and make us state-of-the-art equipment that matches international standards. That is what we are looking forward to. The push that the government of India is giving to start-ups, developing industries and the public sector undertakings like yours is very important to synergize all these units and come up with something that is world class so that we don’t have to go abroad for all our requirements, Mr. Srinivas said.
The underwater arrays are designed by NPOL at Kochi, manufactured by Keltron Controls at Aroor, and integrated at Bharat Electronics Limited Bangalore before deployment by the Indian Navy. Maareech systems are meant to detect, classify, and offer counter measures against torpedoes.
N. Narayanamoorthi, chairman, Keltron Group of Companies, Sreekumar Nair, Keltron managing director, Anil Kumar, head, Keltron Controls, and senior officials from the Indian Navy and NPOL were also present.
