- BEL has signed two contracts with the Indian Air Force and Army, and six contracts with the Navy.
- The projects have been indigenously developed by BEL and other public, private and MSME companies.
Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) revealed that it has signed ten contracts worth ₹5,498 crores, with the Ministry of Defence (MoD), in a stock exchange filing.
BEL has signed two contracts with the Indian Airforce and Army and six contracts with the Navy. In a company statement, BEL said, “All these are flagship projects showcasing the indigenous design and manufacturing capabilities of the Indian defence industry led by BEL, involving other public sectors, private sectors and medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs). These projects will add another milestone to the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives of the Government of India.”
Army contracts
BEL Ghaziabad has signed a contract with the Indian Army for Project Akashteer that involves the arm-automated air defence control & reporting system to monitor low-level airspace over the battle areas of the Indian Army and effectively control the ground-based air defence weapon systems. BEL Kotdwara has also signed a contract with the Indian Army to manufacture instant fire detection and suppression systems for T-72 that have been indigenously designed by DRDO.
Air Force contracts
BEL Bengaluru has signed two contracts with the Indian Air Force. The first one is for 90 EW suite equipment for medium-lift helicopters which are indigenously designed and developed by DRDO’s Combat Aircraft Systems Development & Integration Centre (CASDIC). This equipment comprises of Radar Warning Receiver (RWR), Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS) and CounterMeasure Dispensing System (CMDS) that aims to enhance the combat survivability of IAF helicopters during operational missions against adversaries — ground-based as well as airborne radars and heat seeking shoulder fired missiles with effective countermeasures.
The second contract for manufacturing Akash Missile Systems has been signed for the maintenance of two Squadrons. AMS is a medium-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, developed by DRDO. AMS includes surveillance radar, fire control radar, and a control and command centre developed by BEL. AMS can target aircraft up to 30 km away and has the capabilities to neutralise aerial threats such as fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles. It is fully integrated with C4I and equipped with ECCM features.
Navy contracts
BEL has signed a contract for 1256 software-defined radios (SDR), indigenously developed by Defence Electronics Application Laboratory (DEAL), DRDO and BEL. The SDR portables are developed in three configurations — SDR manpack, SDR fixed pack and SDR handheld, to meet the specific operational requirements of the Indian Navy. These devices are new generation software-defined radios that support multi-band, multi-channel, multi-role/ mission operation with voice/data to meet the needs of network-centric warfare of the Indian Navy.
The second contract involves an order of 1177 HD VLF HF (high definition, very low frequency, high frequency) Receiver communication equipment to receive and demodulate data/ voice in VLF and HF (high frequency) band of operation in ships and submarines of the Indian Navy. The equipment incorporates advanced digital signal processing (DSP) technology with inbuilt high-grade encryption. BEL Panchkula will be manufacturing this equipment that has been designed by DEAL DRDO, Dehradun.
BEL Hyderabad will also be manufacturing 12 Sarangs that will be installed on Kamov 31 helicopters of the Indian Navy that intercept, detect and identify the radar emitters comprising state-of-the-art technologies. The project is indigenously designed and developed by DLRL, DRDO Hyderabad.
The remaining three projects signed by BEL with Indian Navy include INS-SA, CMS for P17 and P28, and Varuna EW.
Bharat Electronics is one of the few defence companies that sells its products to the Indian military. Currently, the Indian military buys the majority of its material from state-run defence companies on a single-vendor nomination basis, while the share of private defence contractors constitutes barely 15%.
BEL’s stock jumped by almost 7% during intraday trade today. At around 1:10 PM, the Bharat Electronics stock was trading 6.12% higher at ₹97.15 apiece. In January, the company recommended an interim dividend of ₹0.60 per share (on a face value of ₹1 each) on the enhanced share capital of the company after the bonus issue of equity shares in September 2022.
