India's first private missile production facility unveiled

Kalyani Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (KRAS), a joint venture between Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd of Israel inaugurated their state of the art facility at the Hardware Park in Rangareddy district here on Thursday. The joint venture will invest in designing, developing and manufacturing of weapon systems including Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) systems and remote weapon systems.

Spread across 24,000 square feet, the unit is set to roll out tandem warhead, portable anti-tank missile systems and also Spike missiles which have a range to 2 km to 10 km depending on the mode of transportation. It also has a night vision capacity making the weapon deadly accurate even at night time. According to the Chairman of the Kalyani group Major General (retd) Baba N Kalyani, the unit which came up in a record time of ten months is proving direct employment to 300 and indirect employment to 1000 people through the supply chain.

“This is one of the FDI in defence in India, they have been working on ATGM with the ministry of defence from 2011, they have been through all the trials, went to the services and the product is approved by the services,” Mr Kalyani said. Kalyani group has invested Rs 60 cr in the project. Maj Gen (Retd) Yoav Har-Even, President and CEO, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd said that the Hyderabad facility will take up more products such as Spike missile systems, which are used by 26 countries all over the world. “With the significant transfer of knowledge we are resolved to help make in India by manufacturing Air to Ground weapon system here,” he added.

Mr Daniel Carmon -Ambassador of Israel to India and K Taraka Rama Rao, Telangana minister for industries and commerce, and IT also spoke at the inaugural ceremony.