Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) public sector undertaking company BEML has launched the first prototype of mechanical minefield marking equipment (MMME) Mk-II for the Indian Army.
The MMME Mk-II prototype built on BEML TATRA 6×6 vehicle has been developed through Technology of Transfer (ToT) from Research & Development Establishment Engineers (R&DE Engineers) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Go deeper with GlobalData
The prototype has been launched virtually in the presence of BEML chairman and managing director M V Rajasekar, DRDO R&DE Engineers director V Parliker, and other officials.
Rajasekar said: “We are proud to be a partner with this project in our quest to achieve ‘Atmanirbhrata’.
“The equipment will greatly benefit the Indian Army during operations. I am sure that this project would be the harbinger for many more projects to come.”
Atmanirbhar Bharat vision is an initiative introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India self-reliant and increase domestic defence manufacturing in the country.
MK-II is designed for marking/fencing the minefields at a faster rate, semi-automatically with minimal human interaction.
BEML said that the equipment has a minimum marking/fencing rate of 1.2km/hour with 15m inter-picket spacing. It can also place the pickets at 10m-35m spacing in a 5m step.
According to the company, the system can drive the picket to a maximum 450mm depth.
It can store 500 pickets and polypropylene rope of length 15km.
MMME Mk-II system is designed to operate in the plains of Punjab, as well as semi-desert and desert of Rajasthan, and in all kinds of weather conditions.
BEML said it is executing the project by partnering with a number of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
The MoD is expected to place orders for over 55 systems following successful evaluation trials.
In January, BEML secured orders from the MoD to supply high-mobility vehicles to the Indian Army.
