Missile unit to come up at Ibrahimpatnam

Mar 2012: A surface-to-air missile unit is all set to come up at a cost of Rs 30,000 crore at Ibrahimpatnam in Ranga Reddy district. The foundation stone for the project by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) was laid by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday.

The infrastructure for the project, spread over 630 acres of land, will be ready in three years' time. Initially, an estimated 6,000 missiles are expected to be produced at the unit which would be equipped to subsequently expand production to keep up with the demand.

M Pallam Raju, the Union minister of state for defence, said that the project budget would be allocated in the 12th and 13th Plans. Project developer BDL's turnover would go from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore once production begins at the surface-to-air missile defence project unit at Ibrahimpatnam. The new unit will create 1,000 officer-level jobs and Pallam Raju said that manpower from educational institutions should be churned out as per industry requirements to enable the local population to benefit from the project and find employment at the unit.
The Union minister said that training in the necessary skills should be offered at the technological institutions for the local populace to be able to compete at the national level for the jobs that are created. The minister said that the Centre would soon come out with a policy that facilitates better private sector participation in the defence sector.

Kiran Kumar said that the state government was working on allocating 6,000 to 7,000 acres of land for various defence projects including three each by BDL and BEL, two for ECIL and one for Midhani. These projects would together generate employment for 10,000 people, the CM added. Kiran Kumar said that as part of the state government's Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu programme, necessary skills were being imparted with students for employment in various sectors. The CM informed that in its first four months, one lakh placements had been made through the programme.

Maj Gen Ravi Khetarpal (rtd), chairman and managing director of BDL, said that the Ibrahimpatnam unit would be the company's fourth manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh and the fifth in the country. He revealed that the Ibrahimpatnam project would kick off with an initial investment of Rs 2,500 crore.

The technology for missile production would be transferred by the DRDO which is collaborating with a foreign partner. He said the country's first indigenous surface-to-air missile 'Akash' was ready, manufactured by BDL.

SOURCE: TOI