Access to military facilities helped in faster development of weapon systems: Baba Kalyani

“You can see we have six platforms, I think it’s probably a world record that somebody can develop such platforms in a short period of time,” Baba Kalyani told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interaction at Defence Expo in Lucknow.

Lucknow: The Union government’s decision to give private defence companies access to Indian military’s test ranges has helped in faster development of new weapon systems, says Baba Kalyani, chairman of Kalyani Group.

“You can see we have six platforms, I think it’s probably a world record that somebody can develop such platforms in a short period of time,” Baba Kalyani told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interaction at Defence Expo in Lucknow.

Baba Kalyani attributes the development of domestic manufacturing capabilities to Make in India policy in the defence sector.

“There is a direction for making in India. This direction has propelled the defence industry to build its capacities, capabilities and investment and more importantly it has created technology capabilities that we didn’t have before,” he said.

The new policies adopted by the government also permits private Indian companies to test their platforms in the Indian military weapon testing ranges that have expedited the whole development process.

“We are able to test our platforms in the ranges of army, with that the ability to develop new products and test new products has become extremely fast,” explained Baba Kalyani as the relaxed policies adopted by the government has helped private Indian defence manufacturers to design and develop world-class weapon platforms in a short span of time.

The group got its big break in defence manufacturing in 1999 during the Kargil war when it was asked to produce one lakh shells for Swedish Bofors guns on an urgent basis.

Today, the group offers six long and medium-range artillery guns to Indian and foreign customers including Bharat 52, a 155mm/52 calibre gun, and ultra-lightweight vehicle-mounted Garuda 105 guns.

“Today the technology is changing very rapidly, the need is to develop products very fast as you can’t take 10 years to develop a product because, by the time you develop it, it will be obsolete,” he added.

(Article by senior journalist Krishnanand Tripathi)