Indian Army orders Kalyani M4 vehicles worth Rs 178 Cr, Bharat Forge inks deal

In yet another Atmanirbhar push, Bharat Forge on Tuesday announced that it has received an order worth Rs 177.95 crore from the Ministry of Defence for the supply of Kalyani M4 vehicles.

The Kalyani M4 is a multi-role platform, designed to meet the specific requirements of armed forces for quick mobility in rough terrain and in areas affected by mine and improvised explosive devices (IED) threats.

In a regulatory filing, the Pune based Defence manufacturing company said it has received the order from the Indian Army for protected vehicles under emergency procurement.

On Monday, Bharat Forge had inked a pact with global aerospace and technology firm Paramount Group to manufacture armoured vehicles in the country. The agreement was signed at Defence Expo IDEX 2021 in Abu Dhabi.

Bharat Forge is a subsidiary of the Kalyani Group, involved in automotive, power, oil & gas, construction & mining, locomotive, marine and aerospace industries besides manufacturing of Defence equipment. The Kalyani Group is Indian engineering, technology and manufacturing conglomerate that offers armoured vehicles, ammunition, defence electronics and artillery systems. The Kalyani Group in 2020 DefExpo in India had announced that it was partnering with Paramount Group to explore the indigenisation of defence systems in India, with a focus on protected vehicles and aerospace.

In a major development on Tuesday, Defense Ministry is also set to clear over Rs 6,000 crore for the acquisition of Main Battle Tank Arjun Mark 1A. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier dedicated the tank to the nation during his visit to Chennai. In addition, the Defense Ministry too had cleared the induction of 118 Arjun Mark1A tanks into the Indian Army. 

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Defence procurement of 73 LCA Tejas worth 48,000 Crore

The Indian Government, which is pressing on the need for indigenisation of the defence sector, has approved on January 13, the procurement of 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircraft and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer aircraft at the cost of Rs. 45,696 Crore along with Design and Development of Infrastructure sanctions worth Rs.1,202 Crore.

Light Combat Aircraft Mk-1A variant is an indigenously designed, developed and manufactured state-of-the-art modern 4+ generation fighter aircraft. This aircraft is equipped with critical operational capabilities of Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Missile, Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite and Air to Air Refuelling (AAR) would be a potent platform to meet the operational requirements of Indian Air Force. It is the first “Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)” category procurement of combat aircraft with an indigenous content of 50% which will progressively reach 60% by the end of the programme. 

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