Indian Army to buy 12 more Weapon Locating Radars for China Border

New Delhi: In a move that will provide more teeth to the Indian Army on the Chinese border front, the Indian Army has proposed 12 Swathi weapon-locating radars developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). A proposal of the said meaning has been submitted to the Ministry of Defence, ministry sources said.

The proposal is worth around Rs 1,000 crore Swathi WLRs and it is planned to be put for consideration by a high-level Defence Ministry meeting, sources added. The weapon-locating radars 'Swathi' has been developed by the DRDO and manufactured by Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). 'Swathi' is said to have achieved major success during operations and has been supplied to Armenia as well.

Swathi weapon-locating radars provide fast, automatic, and accurate location of enemy weapons like mortars, shells and rockets within 50-kilometre range. The radars can simultaneously detect multiple projectiles fired from different weapons at different locations.

The Indian Army has been using the radars for its operations along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. The system was given for trial in the Army in 2018.

New Indian Army chief General Manoj Pande is a major supporter of indigenisation and orders for many types of equipment like self-propelled artillery guns are likely to go to Indian vendors only.

A major push is also expected in small arms also as the planned orders for foreign assault rifles are now going to be given to Indian vendors who have made significant developments in this field.

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