Hyderabad: Defence minister Rajnath Singh said Pakistan chose names for its missiles to match its aggressive posturing but the Indian Army works for peace and stability.
“Our missiles have names like Prithvi, Akash, Agni, Nag, Trishul. The Indian Army works for peace and stability. Our missile technology development is not to show our country’s aggression,” Mr Singh said.
Pakistan’s missiles are named Babar, Ghouri and Ghaznavi.
Mr Singh was speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations at missiles maker Bharat Dynamics Ltd in the city.
He said it was mandatory to develop hypersonic missile technology to boost the Army’s capabilities. To mark the occasion, BDL handed over the medium range surface-to-air missile (MSRAM) to the Indian Air Force. He said, “Our defence preparedness is towards the three points of balance, restraint and destruction when needed. Armed forces modernisation is our priority and we are going ahead with it. We want to fulfil our every need through indigenisation.”
The defence minister said BDL had a part to play in this.
“Terrorism is neither good nor bad, but it is just terrorism. We have shown to the world that we have zero tolerance towards terrorism. Weapon power has contributed a lot,” he said, insisting on greater indigenous production.
“By 2025 India wants to achieve a respectful position in defence exports and for that BDL will have to play an effective and decisive role,” he said.
Mr Singh said India had been successful in informing the world that there can be nothing less then zero tolerance for terrorism, the results of which are visible. “Countries and people who supported terrorists or supported them indirectly are looking to join the forces that are pursing peace and democracy. In this, weapon power has played an important role,” he said.
Dr Sateesh Reddy, secretary, department of defence research, and chairman, DRDO, said, that the DRDO together with BDL had the capacity to produce 60 missiles per month. “We are ready to produce 100 missiles per month,” month, he said.
Dr Reddy said many indigenous missile systems were developed such as Akash, anti-tank missiles, and the MSRAM. “The DRDO-BDL combination has nurtured various industries working in synergy building indigenous systems. DRDO and BDL work as a single unit, as close partners in producing missiles, torpedoes and other systems”.
The BDL is working on the ‘Amogh’ missile. It has earlier built Prithvi and Aakash missiles as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme with the DRDO, he said.
“Our focus is on indigenisation. We have indigenised 75 to 90 per cent weapon systems procured from France, Russia and Italy. There are plans to indigenise the top 20 highly priced components within two to three years,” Dr Reddy said, BDL chairman and managing director Commodre Siddharth Mishra (retired) said an MoU has been signed with T-Hub for defence-related products and with IIIT-Hyderabad to develop defence equipment with artificial intelligence under the ‘Innovation for Defence Excellence’ scheme.
He said missile production which started 50 years ago had become the top multiproduct enterprise and weapon system integrator for making the finest defence equipment for the nation, he said.
To commemorate the vision of the ‘missile man’ President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, his statue was unveiled at the BDL’s premises in Kanchan-bagh. A 24 lakh litre rainwater harvesting facility ‘Jal Nidhi’ was ianugurated at the BDL Ibrahim-patnam unit and a 5-MW solar power plant was made operational.
