In one of the key defense deals, India bagged an opportunity to supply four indigenous weapon-locating radars to Armenia.
India grabbed this USD 40 billion deal surpassing Russia and Polish firms.
“The deal is for supplying four SWATHI radars developed by the Defense Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and manufactured by the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to Armenia in Europe,” reads a statement by government sources.
As the sources say, this deal is being considered as the major one under ‘Make in India’ program in the defense sector.
After testing Russian and Polish systems, Armenian defense department has expressed reliability in Indian system and decided to go with them.
The Indian Army is already the similar weapons for its operations across the Line of Control (LoC).
These systems can detect any weapons like mortars, shells and rockets in a 50-km range and, in parallel, manage multiple missiles coming from different weapons at different locations.
A single weapon of that kind includes 81-mm or higher caliber mortars, 105-mm or higher caliber shells and 120-mm or higher caliber free-flying rockets.
It is noteworthy that India has also agreed a defense deal with US during President Trump’s India visit recently.
In response, Trump had also promised that US will provide advanced military systems along with required technology transfer to India.
The Indian Government is expecting similar orders from Southeast Asia, Latin America and Middle East for achieving its defense export target of Rs. 35,000 crore.
Officials opine that this deal will open avenues for more such deals for Indian indigenous systems, which are relatively cheaper than European and other major competitors.
Indian defense exports have been on rise over the years, from Rs 1,500 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 4,500 crore 2017-18 to Rs 10,700 crore in 2018-19.
The Centre has set a Rs 20,000 crore export target for the current fiscal and aims to reach Rs 35,000 crore mark by 2024-25.
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