Nagpur: State of the art 'Kawach' rockets
being developed by Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) is likely to
be inducted into Indian Navy sometime in 2013.
"We have made two prototype and first trial has been
successfully conducted while the second trial will be
conducted sometime this year before its final induction into
the Indian Navy in 2013," OFB Director General and Chairman D
M Gupta told a press conference here on Saturday.
Kawach, to be launched from Navy submarines, will have a
range of 40 km.
He also informed that the OFB is in the process of
investing Rs 6,800 crore over the next five years and will be
taking up many new products like new generation assault
rifles, very short range air defence missiles, latest
generation artillery guns and ammunitions through technology
transfer.
While ruling out the possibility of setting up new
factories, he said OFB is in the process of expanding existing
ones by utilising surplus land since acquiring it was a
problem for new units.
Gupta said 'Pinaca' rockets manufactured at Ordnance
Factory at Ambajhari here have been well-received by the
Indian Army and the OFB which presently manufactures 1000
rockets per year, has a demand five times higher and it might
consider increasing its capacity to cope up with the demand.
About the research and development activities, Gupta
said though the Defence Research Development Organisation
(DRDO) is entrusted with the responsibility of R and D, the
OFB Board has approached the Government proposing to carry out
R and D activities at its 12 centres.
Meanwhile, talking about its performance in terms of
numbers, Gupta said the OFB has registered a growth rate of
29 per cent and achieved issue value (turnover) of
Rs 11,232 crore in 2010\11 against Rs 8715 crore during the
year 2009-10.
He said the target for the current fiscal is Rs 12,500
crore.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, May 21, 2011, 17:58