India defence firm bags order from Ecuador

New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) Indian security equipment manufacturer MKU Monday said it has bagged an order to provide 40,000 pieces of body armour to Ecuador, which is upgrading the protection ability of its police force.

"India is looked upon primarily as an importer of defence and security equipment. Orders like this will help in putting India on the export map of world class defence and security technology," said Manoj Gupta, chairman, MKU.

"It was about 15 years ago that India had imported body armour for Kargil. It makes everyone at MKU very proud that today we have achieved the technological excellence to export these from India."

According to the company, it had participated in a global tender in Ecuador for the contract. The Body Armour selected by the Interior Ministry, Ecuador had gone through extensive tests and field trials before being selected.

A delegation from Ecuador would be coming to India to hold discussions with the Indian Home Ministry for an memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a strategic alliance, according to Ecuador Interior Minister Sr. Jose Serrano Salgadoat.

MKU was setup in 1985 and till date has provided protection to over 1.5 million soldiers through its products.

The company has 25 years of experience in providing end-to-end solutions and project management in development and production of ballistic protection systems for aircraft, land vehicles, naval vessels and objects against blast waves, splinters and bullets.

The company is also a registered NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) supplier since 1993.

MKU has in its repository, over 1,000 protection solutions for more than 100 threats. Its products and solutions are used by over 230 forces spread across 100-plus countries including most of the member states of the European Union (EU).

The company is headquartered in Kanpur, India, and has manufacturing facilities in India and Germany.

The company is also in a process of setting up a state-of-the art plant for manufacture of sophisticated night vision devices in India.