The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced the signing of a contract with Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) for the supply of anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) to the Indian Army.
The contract will see BDL supply 4,960 MILAN-2T ATGMs for $163m (Rs11.8bn).
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According to the MoD, the contract will further boost the ‘Make in India’ initiative of India.
The initiative has been introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India self-reliant and increase domestic defence manufacturing in the country.
In a statement, the MoD said: “This project is a big opportunity for the defence industry to showcase its capability and will be a step in the direction of achieving the goal of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in the defence sector.”
The ministry said that the latest order is a ‘repeat order’ of a contract that was signed with BDL in March 2016.
Induction of the ATGMs is scheduled to be completed in three years.
MILAN is a portable medium-range, anti-tank weapon produced by BDL under licence from French firm MBDA Missile Systems in India.
Milan-2T is a Tandem Warhead anti-tank guided missile with 1,850m range. Both MILAN 2T and MILAN 3 missiles are armed with a tandem charge for use against reactive armour.
These ATGMs can be fired from ground and vehicle-based launchers. They can also be deployed in anti-tank role for both ‘offensive and defensive tasks’.
Last month, the Indian MoD said the army is in the process of procuring 556 augmented reality head-mounted display (ARHMD) systems.
