We have shown to the world that we have zero tolerance towards terrorism: Rajnath Singh

Hyderabad, August 3, 2019: India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations at Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL), Hyderabad said that our missile technology development is not to show our country's aggression.

Elaborating further, he said that our neighbour names their missiles Babar, Ghouri, Ghaznavi, etc. Pakistan names them such for aggressive posturing. Our missiles have names such as Prithvi, Akash, Agni, Nag, Trishul, etc. Our army works for peace and stability and even our defence preparedness is towards the three points of Balance, Restraint and Destruction when needed.

The Golden jubilee celebration was graced by Dr.Sateesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman, DRDO; Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria; Commodore Siddharth Mishra, CMD, BDL; Smt. Gargi Kaul, Secretary Defence Finance;
Amit Sahay, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence and others.

Rajnath Singh further said Armed forces modernization is our priority and we are going ahead with it. We want to fulfill our every need through indigenization. BDL has a part to play on this. Terrorism is neither good nor bad, but it is just terrorism. We have shown to the world that we have zero tolerance towards terrorism. Weapon power has contributed a lot, he said.

For your defence capability and defence preparedness we need more indigenous production. We want to take India to a good position in defence exports by 2025. BDL has a big part to play, Rajnath Singh said.

Commodore Siddharth Mishra, CMD, BDL in his welcome address said that BDL has concentrated on indigenisation for bringing out effective missile with a low cost with own R&D. We are working on ‘Amogh’ missile with our own R&D facility. We have prepared missiles like Prithvi and Aakash as part of integrated Missile Development Program with DRDO. Along with these works, our focus is on indigenization. We have indigenized 75 to 90 per cent weapon systems procured from France, Russia and Italy, he said.

Apart from these there are plans to indigenize the highly priced top 20 components within two-three years. MoU has been signed with T-Hub for defence related innovative products and with IIIT Hyderabad for defence equipments with artificial intelligence under Innovation for Defence Excellence scheme, he added.

“BDL being a central DPSU, meeting the ever-changing requirements of Indian armed forces, would like to be always at the forefront of emerging technologies. As part of this effort, BDL would like to integrate AI in its products and processes. BDL with its partnership with IIIT-H, one of the top ranked AI research groups, will be able to integrate AI strategy in our products to accelerate the journey of producing efficient and user-friendly defense equipment”, he added.

The missile production journey which started 50 years ago, has now become number one multiproduct enterprise and weapon system Integrator for making finest defence equipment for the nation, he said.

Dr.Sateesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman, DRDO in his address reminisced about his association with BDL said that BDL journey started in producing Pruthvi first ballistic missile we haven't looked back. Today we produce so many missiles, has a capacity of producing 60 missiles per month and we are ready to produce 100 missiles per month. Lot of indigenous systems were developed such as Akash, anti-tank missiles, missiles, MSRAM, the DRDO-BDL combination has nurtured various industries working in synergy building indigenous systems. DRDO and BDL, both work as single unit, as close partners in producing missiles, torpedoes and other systems.
To commemorate the vision of Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, a statue of Dr Kalam was unveiled by the Raksha Mantri at BDL Company’s premises located at Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad.

A commemorative stamp on BDL was released by the Raksha Mantri as a part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Company in the presence of Dr. Brig. B. Chandrasekhar, Chief Post Master General, Telangana Circle.

The Medium Range Surface-to-Air-Missile (MR SAM) was handed over to the Indian Air Force. The Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADCreceived the MRSAM on behalf of the Indian Air Force.

“Veer Naris” from the State of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were felicitated by Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh. “Veer Naris”, were invited to BDL on occasion of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Company.

The Andhra & Telangana Sub Area Veteran Branch extended support in inviting the “Veer Naris”. Raksha Mantri held interaction with the Veer Naris. Twenty two “Veer Naris” participated in the interaction with Hon’ble Minister. Later they were felicitated as a part of Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of BDL.

The Hon’ble Minister inaugurated the Rain Water Harvesting facility named as “Jal Nidhi” at the upcoming Unit of BDL at Ibrahimpatnam as a part of Jal-Shakti Abhiyan of the Government of India This is expected to help in storage of 24 Lakh litre of water and increasing the level of underground water levels.

A 5 MW Solar Power Plant was also inaugurated by the Raksha Mantri at BDL, Ibrahimpatnam, which demonstrates BDL’s commitment towards environment protection.

The Raksha Mantri also visited the state-of-the-art production facilities at Kanchanbagh Unit of the Company.

BDL, Director (Finance), S. Piramanayagam delivered the vote of thanks.