The Indian Army is reviewing bids put forth by seven private firms, including two organizations from Hyderabad—HBL Power Systems Ltd and Premier Explosives Ltd—to supply them with ammunition, according to sources involved with this acquirement procedure.
The Indian Army had given a Request for Proposal (RFP) to these seven organizations earlier this year.
The Army was looking to purchase a few kinds of ammo, including 30mm High Explosive Incendiary (HEI), ordnance for the 122 mm GRAD BM rocket launcher, bi-modular charge system for the 155 mm artillery guns, 125 mm high-velocity flat-trajectory armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot traced cartridge (FSAPDA), 30mm VOG 17 fragmentation grenades to be used in AGS-17 mounted automatic grenade launcher, 40 mm high explosive and high explosive dual purpose (HEDP) for rocket launchers, and electronic fuses.
“The Indian Army needs to replace the ammunition deemed to be too old for use in combat situations. So far, the army was importing the ammunition it needed from overseas. The foreign firms usually refurbish old ammunition and sell it to our army. Refurbishing could include replacing the propellant in the ammunition. Rarely, however, do the suppliers from overseas supply new ammunition because such an exercise involves high cost,” the sources involved said.
The sources also said that the Indian Armed Force knew about how the local Indian industry did not have the specialized skills or mechanism to create the ammo and thus, required accomplices who could provide these toIndia.
The seven organizations that had presented their offers incorporate Saarloha, an organization claimed by the Kalyani gathering of Pune, Maharashtra; AAN Engineering Industries Ltd, an auxiliary of Rico Auto Industries Ltd; Economic Explosives Ltd, a piece of Solar Industries India Ltd of Nagpur; Maharashtra; Mahindra Defense Systems Ltd of the Mahindra gathering; Bharat Forge of the Kalyani gathering, and HFCL.
The offerings by the firms are as follows—
- Saarloha, EEL’s, and AAN Engineering, all three organizations have offered to supply 30mm HEI and HET.
- EEL has additionally banded together with the DRDO for the supply of 122 mm FR RKT. Different bidders for the 122 mm FR RKT include Mahindra Defense Systems Ltd and HBL Power Systems Ltd of Malakpet, Hyderabad, Telengana.
- Head Explosives Ltd. of Secunderabad has joined forces with Simmel Difesa Nexter Systems SA of France for the supply of BMCS HZ and LZ ammo. The other bidder in this classification is EEL.
- AAN, Bharat Forge, and HFCL had offered for the supply of electronic breakers.
- Head Explosives Ltd. has partnered with Simmel Difesa Nexter Systems SA of France for the supply of BMCS HZ & LZ ammunition, the other bidder in this category is EEL.
- AAN, Bharat Forge and HFCL had bid for the supply of electronic fuses.
The army has cancelled the bids for the 125mm FSAPDS, the sources said.
