Two Pinaka varients under development

Mr.Sudhir Kumar Beri,Chairman, OFB, informeded to the press,at Ordnance Factory Estate,Yeddumilaram  on Friday4-1-2013 . After the success of thePinaka multiple rocket launcher,ordnance factories are now developing two more of its variants. At present there are two varients of Pinaka and efferts are on to develop two more varients that can strike targets at double the existing range. A detailed Project Report was  already sent to Governament for approval. There are plans to enhance the production of the existing Pinaka rocket launchers from 2000 to 5000 per annum.
On the delay in overtaking the ailing Hindustan CablesLimited (HCL)'s 3 units in Hyderabad, Rupnarayanapur at West Bengal and Naini in Allhabad, the Govt. was expected to take a decision by Feb. About 1500 crore has to be spent on these units for creating necessary facilities.It will be advantage to OFB to acquire the 3 units of HCL with 1400 acres land available with these units. He said that Govt. sanctioned 15,ooo crores for the modernisation and enhancement of the production capacity of ordnance factories under the 12th Five Years Plan.

155 mm Gun

Ordnance Factory produces 155mm calibre guns   

After producing 105 mm calibre guns, the Ordnance Factory Medak (OFM) has now come up with 155 mm calibre guns. They would be offered for extensive user trial from March, said Sudhir Kumar Beri, Chairman, Ordnance Factory Board.

Two tests conducted

They are like advanced versions of the existing Bofors guns. They are developed using 65 per cent indigenous components and 35 per cent imported ones.

Already, two tests were conducted successfully, he said.

In the coming days, the imported components percentage used in these guns would be brought down to 15 per cent, he said while addressing the media persons on the sidelines of 42nd All India Ordnance and Ordnance Equipment Factories annual athletic meet.

The project was taken up in association with five different agencies, including DRDO, DGME and DGQA.

Usually it takes over 60 months to develop such guns but they were developed within 12 to 14 months and this was possible due to the association of different agencies, he informed.

The Ordnance Factory Board was committed to expand the production capacity of OFM with a budget of Rs. 600 crore. The OFM’s present production capacity of 100 to 125 original equipments would now be enhanced to 200 original equipments, besides setting up facilities for overhaul of 50 tanks, said Mr. Beri.

This apart, a spares-supply facility would come up at the OFM, which would cater to the spare components needs of 200 army-based workshops.

There were plans to set up a rubber plant at the OFM to produce rubber components to be used in all ordnance factories in the country.

Talks were on with DRDO and Indian Rubber Manufacturers’ Association to take up the project, he said.

On the need for organising annual athletic meet, Mr. Beri replied that there were 41 ordnance factories in the country employing over a lakh people from different cultural backgrounds.

Promoting brotherhood

Events like this help in promoting brotherhood among employees.

Around 51 teams with 500 athletes would participate in the 42 edition of the meet at the OFM, he added. The athletes will competing for honours in 33 track and field events at the renovated Sarath Stadium in the OFM.

GREETINGS

WISH YOU A HAPPY & PROSPOROUS NEW YEAR.
WORK AS IF ON EACH OF YOU DEPENDED THE WHOLE WORK.FIFTY CENTURIES ARE LOOKINF ON YOU; THE FUTURE OF INDIA DEPENDS ON YOU.-Swami Vivekenanda.                  
M.S.HARI/ convenor,Save Ordnance Factories.

Nalalnda Ordnance Factory

Ordnance Factory at Nalanda

Action for setting up of ordnance factory at Nalanda in Bihar is underway.Commissioning of Nitro Cellulose Plant (NC) and erection of Sulphuric Acid Concentration / Nitric Acid Concentration Plant (SAC/NAC) are under progress. Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) is also planning for procurement of sub-plants for main Bi-Modular Charge System (BMCS) plant on its own. As per signed contract with M/s IMI, Israel, the target date for commissioning of the main Bi-Modular Charge System (BMCS) plant was September 2011. However, CBI investigations had started in May 2009 against M/s Israeli Military Industries (IMI) and others due to vendors' misconduct relating to illegal gratification. M/s IMI has been debarred from doing any further business dealings with Ministry of Defence for a period of ten years. Certain advances paid to the firm have been recovered and some Bank Guarantees submitted by the * vendor have been forfeited as per contract & rules in force. This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri Jitendra Singh in a written reply to Shri Hukumdev Narayan Yadav in Lok Sabha today

ordnance factories

Ordnance Factory

Modernisation of OFB is a continuous process based on User's requirement, technological upgradation and available resources. In the 11th plan an investment of Rs.2953/- crores has been made on modernisation and capacity augmentation of different Ordnance Factories. Modernisation has been carried out in Ordnance Factory Khamaria at Jabalpur involving an investment of Rs.33.18 crores in the11th Plan. This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri Jitendra Singh in a written reply to Shri Rakesh Singh in Lok Sabha today.

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Govt.Spends

Govt to spend Rs 6 lakh crore on defence equipment buys

 

Kolkata, Dec 20: 

The defence equipment industry will see substantial growth as the Union Government is planning to spend nearly Rs 6 lakh crore to procure equipment over the next 15 years.

Addressing a defence seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Thursday, Rear Admiral A. K. Verma (Retd), CMD, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), said, “The defence equipment industry in India will see a business worth Rs 6 lakh crore in the next 15 years. Of this, about 70 per cent is going indigenised (localised). It’s time for the private players to stand up.” Verma is also the chairman of the Defence Task Force, CII Eastern Region. According to him, the small-scale industries involved in the defence ancillary industry would also benefit from this increased procurement.

Eastern region

Commenting on GRSE’s growth opportunities, Verma said the defence PSU is eyeing orders worth Rs 30,000 crore over the next ten years.

Stating that the eastern region and West Bengal, in particular, has a strong presence of small and medium industries, Verma said the SME sector in West Bengal alone can fetch Rs 50,000 to Rs 80,000 crore of the estimated spending over the next 15 years.

For example, he said, many such small industries are involved in cabling and plumbing works at the shipbuilding units of GRSE.

Himansu Sekhar Chaudhury, Member, Material and Components , Ordnance Factory Board, pointed out that more than 4,000 SMEs are engaged in supplying metal, clothes, leather and various semi-finished products to ordnance factories in the State.

West Bengal Commerce and Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee, who was present on the occasion, said the micro and small industries in the State should tap the defence equipment market .

Industry in Bengal

Meanwhile, Chatterjee reiterated that the State Government was not against any group, but against “forced land acquisition.”

Declining to comment on the Singur issue pertaining to the Tata Group, he welcomed Tata Consultancy Services’ announcement to invest Rs 1,350 crore at a software development campus in the State.

CAG Audit Report Exposes OF & Land allotments

• Ar | North | South | Northeast/ 

CAG nails Army: Audit report exposes ordnance factory and land allotment scams causing Rs.1277 crore los .

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The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has unearthed irregularities and inefficiencies mainly in the Army's ordnance factories that have cost the national exchequer an estimated Rs.1,277 crore and led to huge gaps in the country's war preparedness.
Apart from this there was a huge loss due to diversion and misuse of prime cantonment land to private builders in cities such as Pune, Kandivili, Panchmarhi and Barrackpore. The CAG has also chastised the Indian Navy and the Air Force for inefficiencies and wastage in several of their projects.

While the armed forces have been pulled up for decision deficiencies resulting in losses, the defence ministry has not been spared either by the CAG "for gross mismanagement of land under its possession."

There is striking similarity with the Adarsh housing society scam in Kandivili where 5,166 sq metres belonging to the Central Ordnance Depot ,which was in possession of the army since 1942, was given to a private company for residential purposes on the basis of an irregular no-objection certificate issued by the Defence Estates Officer, Mumbai.

The CAG has pointed out that unauthorised construction and running of 36 hotels on old grant sites at Panchmarhi was not prevented by the Defence Estates Service.

Similar cases were reported from Barrackpore cantonment where two old grant sites were misused as restaurants and shops despite a shortage of land for military use.

Perhaps a more damaging revelation relates to tank ammunition. Even as the army has been complaining about the shortage of ammunition, the CAG has pointed out that more than 1,00,000 rounds of tank ammunition designed indigenously were declared unserviceable without proper verification.

The value of this wasted ammunition was pegged at Rs.408.06 crore. The wastage was detected by auditors in 2010 in the Southern Command which is headquartered in Pune.
The report noted that out of 3,50,000 rounds of ammunition worth Rs.1,400 crore produced by the Ordnance Factory Board, 1,34,608 rounds were unserviceable.

A major chunk of these - 1,02,014 rounds had not even completed a shelf life of 10 years.

This compelled the defence ministry to import 16,000 rounds of ammunition worth Rs.278.88 crore from Russia earlier this year.

In another instance pointed out by the CAG, the Defence Research and Development Organisation had developed a modular charge system for 105 mm and 130 mm artillery guns.

But by the time the project was completed, the army was not interested in the technology which led to wastage of `13.48 crore that had been spent in developing a modular charge system for field guns.

Poor soil investigationand bad engineering by the Military Engineering Service Engineers led to the construction of sub-standard bunkers meant for the storage of ammunition.

The bunkers were constructed for Rs.7.61 crore and have remained defective even after three years.

The ministry has admitted that some of the structures actually collapsed.

Radar Warning Receivers are used by combat aircraft to warn them that enemy radar has "illuminated" them. The CAG has pointed out a serious deficiency in an Air Force project where it failed to install radar warning receiver systems in most of its fighter aircraft fleet.

The IAF had sought to equip its entire fleet of combat jets with RWRs but the CAG has revealed that the project has come a cropper even after a spending Rs.521 crore.

The IAF ordered 336 RWR systems from Bharat Electronics Limited in 2005. A major chunk of these- 94 per cent- were supplied in 2007, well before the delivery deadline of 2010.

But the CAG noted that till April this year, only 73 out of these 336 systems had been installed. There is also a dispute between the defence ministry and the CAG over performance of these radars.

The IAF had claimed that these RWRs had not performed satisfactorily, but the defence ministry, in its reply, claimed it was a proven and totally reliable system with an exceeding 80 per cent.

The CAG report said it does not agree with the defence ministry's observation as the performance of 69 out of 73 RWRs integrated to date with IAF aircraft were not up to the mark.

The Navy and the Coast Guard have not been spared by the CAG either.

In one instance it has said that operations of Navy submarines were affected because of delays in commissioning of "a crucial system onboard." This led to a loss of Rs.167.64 crore