Indian Army to buy 12 more indigenous weapon-locating radars for China border

New Delhi, May 14: Amid the India-China border dispute, the Indian Army will be buy more indigenous weapon-locating radars for its northern border where the PLA has been sitting for over two years. In order to do so, the army has initiated a proposal to the defence ministry for buying 12 Made-in-India 'Swathi', weapon-locating radars.

 

 

It should be noted that Swathi can detect and track incoming artillery and mortar rounds, rockets and rocket launchers within a 50-km radius. It can simultaneously track up to 7 targets. The proposal, worth around Rs 1,000 crore, is planned to be put for consideration by a high-level Defence Ministry meeting.

 

Swathi, jointly designed and developed by DRDO and Bharat Electronics Limited, was displayed at the 69th Republic Day Parade. The radars were given to the Indian army for trial in 2018. The Indian army has been using these radars for its operations along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2020, India bagged a $40 million deal to supply the locally-developed radars to Armenia.

 

Since few months India has been focusing to establish a local defence manufacturing industry to strengthen Atmanirbhar Bharat to cut its dependence on other countries for weapons and equipment especially due to ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

 

 

On May 5, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said India cannot depend on imports for its security and security. "Recent conflicts, especially the situation in Ukraine, have told us that not just defence supplies, but commercial contracts are also prone to be affected when it comes to national interests,” he said while delivering the keynote address for the 37thAir Chief Marshal PC Lal Memorial Lecture in New Delhi.

 

Singh stressed that achieving self-reliance in defence will have middle and long-term benefits as it will help in building the foundation of a robust industrial base not only in the defence sector, but in every sphere of the industry.