A state-of-the-art electronic artillery fuse manufacturing facility was launched at the Pune unit of Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) recently.
The development comes after a ‘compliance report’ from the Comptroller and auditor general (CAG) of India, which was tabled before the Parliament in July this year, revealed 83 per cent shortage of artillery fuses with the Army.
According to The Indian Express, officials from the BEL said the newly-inaugurated facility can produce at least 50,000 fuses per month and the capacity can be increased as per requirement. The facility, located on the BEL campus, on Pashan NDA Road in Pune, was inaugurated by Lt General Shamsher Singh, director general of quality assurance, along with MV Gowtama, chairman and managing director, BEL, and Nataraj Krishnappa, director, Maj Gen Sanjay Chauhan, controller (ammunition) and Dinesh Batra, general manager, BEL, Pune. Capt Raju Kothari, deputy general manager, compared the inaugural ceremony.
Senior scientists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories and representatives of various defence establishments, involved in the process of manufacturing fuse were also present at the function.
Pune unit of the BEL, headquartered in Defence Public Sector Undertaking in Bengaluru, newly-inaugurated facility has a capacity to make more than 50,000 electronic fuses per month, and can augment this capacity as per the requirement of the Army.
